Name: Louie

Message: If I have already painted a shirt with acrylic fabric paint, and allowed it to dry, can I put in procion dye for tie dye or low immersion dyeing, without it affecting the color of the existing paint(s) on the shirt?

The dye will not change the color of the fabric paint itself. However, the paint will act as a resist and prevent complete penetration of the dye.  I recommend dyeing a garment before applying fabric paint, rather than afterwards.

If the dye changes the color of the fiber behind the paint, the paint will appear to change color, unless it is an opaque paint. Fabric paint is transparent unless labeled otherwise, which means it will show any color that lies behind it.

Be careful to heat-set your fabric paint by ironing it or heating it in a commercial clothes dryer (home clothes dryers do not get hot enough), before you apply any dye, unless you are certain that the fabric paint you have chosen does not require heat-setting.

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