Name: Angela 

Message: Hello, For the boys' basketball season which is coming up in about a week, 4 other girls and I are tie-dying shirts...orange...is that ok if we just do it one color or does it have to be more than one color to work. Another question I have is....do you just tie rubber bands around different spots and then put the whole shirt in dye?

Yes, tie-dyeing with a single color will be fine, and is actually easier than dyeing with multiple colors. Instead of using squirt bottles to apply different colors to different parts of the shirt - a process that requires good tie-dye dyes - you can simply fold the shirts in the desired patterns, tie very tightly with rubber bands or string, then throw them into a bucket of dye at the required temperature for the required period of time. (Wet the shirts first in soda ash if you are using good tie-dye dyes.) How hot the water should be, and how long you should immerse the shirts in it, depends on the type of dye you use. Any type of dye that will work on your fabric will work for this type of tie-dyeing.

What are your shirts made of? 100% cotton will be extremely easy to dye a very bright color, following the instructions on my "How to Dye" page, and using good fiber reactive dye. 50% cotton/50% polyester will produce a pastel orange, sort of an apricot.  Watch out for stain-resistant t-shirts, though! Do NOT try to dye a stain-resistant shirt; get an ordinary untreated cotton shirt, instead.

100% polyester shirts will not take any dye, unless you buy a special dye for polyester that is called disperse dye, and boil the shirts in this dye for an hour. Don't try to tie-dye 100% polyester! You can, however, tie-PAINT 100% polyester, using a good fabric paint such as Dye-na-Flow instead of dye. Tie the shirts as for tie-dyeing, then soak them with a good fabric paint which has been diluted 50% with water, then allow to dry, untie the rubber bands, and heat-set as indicated on the label of the fabric paint.

All-purpose dye, such as the dye you see in most stores, produces colors that are less bright, and it requires very hot water, and tends to bleed forever in the laundry, but it does work for tie-dyeing a single color. It is usually a big mistake to attempt multiple-color tie-dyeing with all-purpose dye, but single-color tie-dyeing can work. Tie your shirts as you would if you were using tie-dye dyes, then immerse them in scalding hot water that has been mixed with dye and salt, as per the manufacturer's directions.

If you want to dye your shirts in room temperature water, instead of scalding hot water, or if you want them to stay bright after many washings, you should buy some fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, or Dylon Cold Water Dye (not Dylon Multi Purpose dye!). You have to mail-order Procion MX dyes (see my "Sources for Dyeing Supplies" page for a list of different companies that sell this dye), but fabric stores such as Joann's may carry Dylon Cold Water dye.

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