Trying to tie-dye sweat-wicking material shirts

Name: The Duncans

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Instructions for

tie-dyeing in buckets with fiber reactive dyes, suitable for adapting for use in tie-dyeing synthetic fibers with boiling disperse dyes

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Message: Hi Paula,

We are trying to tie dye those sweat wicking material shirts that are so popular with athletes these days. It always washes out (nearly 100% washout). What do you recommend?

There are two different possible problems here:

1. What is the fiber content of your shirt? Are you using the right dye for it?

2. Does the surface finish that provides the wicking action interfere with a dye's access to the fiber of the shirt?

What I would suggest is that you test my first question first. You need to get the right type of dye to match the fiber content of the garment you are trying to dye. Since we don't have any clue as to how much of a problem question two will be, you should do a test run of just a single garment, to see how well it will dye once you get the right dye for it.

Since you don't specify what kind of dye you've been using, I'll have to assume that you've been using all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye, since most people know you can buy that at the grocery store. Don't do this! All-purpose dye is suitable for only a limited number of uses, generally involving a blend of a cellulose fiber such as cotton with a polyamide fiber such as wool, silk, or nylon. All-purpose dye is almost never a good choice for 100% cotton, because it bleeds in the laundry and fades very quickly, and much better dyes are available. In addition, like most dyes, all-purpose dye will never work on most synthetic fibers, including polyester and acrylic.

The wicking material shirts I've seen are usually 100% polyester. Polyester is a special case, for dyeing. You cannot dye it with any of the many dyes that work on natural fibers. Any dye that works at all on cotton will just wash out of polyester—just as you described your dye as doing. The only type of dye that works on polyester is called disperse dye, a special dye that was developed solely for use on synthetic fibers. You are going to have to acquire some disperse dye. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

Incidentally, disperse dye will work on quite a few other synthetic fibers, as well. It will work on nylon, though it's generally better to use a wool dye on nylon because the chemistry of nylon fiber makes acid dyes more wash-resistant. Disperse dye is also the best choice for home-dyeing acrylic fibers, and it's by far the best choice for acetate, as well. It won't work on polypropylene; nothing else will, either.

You will not be able to find disperse dye at the grocery store. Most crafts stores do not carry it, either, though the excellent craft store near me, Texas Art Supply, does carry it in their stores. Unless you have a particularly good crafts store nearby, you're going to have to mail-order your disperse dye. One brand name of disperse dye is iDye Poly (not to be confused with the single-word dye iDye, which is only for natural fibers). iDye Poly is manufactured by Jacquard Products, and sold through retailers such as Texas Art Supply and Dharma Trading Company. Other brands of disperse dye are available from a limited number of other mail-order retailers, such as Aljo Mfg in New York, and PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts. (See my list of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".) The quality of the disperse dye from PRO Chemical & Dye is probably better than the iDye Poly, but I'm not absolutely certain. iDye Poly does work.

Another thing to know about disperse dye is that you absolutely must boil your garment in it, and boil it for a long time, in order to dye polyester. You can't get away with just using hot water! Disperse dye will not work on polyester in the washing machine. (Some other synthetic fibers will take disperse dye at a lower temperature, and might be able to be dyed with it in the washing machine if the water is heated hot enough.) Polyester actually does not like to dye at merely boiling temperatures, so a nasty-smelling carrier chemical should be added. This comes as a separate little packet inside the iDye package, and is ordered separately from suppliers such as PRO Chemical & Dye or Aljo. The smell of the boiling carrier chemical is rather foul, and demands excellent ventilation. If you have access to an outdoor cooker, such as a turkey fryer, using it would be more pleasant than boiling the dye inside your home or office. When I dyed polyester using the carrier chemical in the iDye Poly packet, I first opened all of my windows, and then I put a strong fan in the window, and then I opened all of the doors as wide as possible, and, after all that, I still wanted more ventilation to reduce the smell.

Note that there are ways to tie-dye with disperse dye, but I would suggest that you do something very simple for your first test garment. Perhaps you should just dye it a solid color, or you could tie concentric circles in it before dropping it into the dyebath. There's a new book I can recommend for you with a variety of different patterns of tie-dyeing by immersing the tied garment in the dyebath, which would work well with boiling in disperse dye. Another alternative is to make iron-ons using disperse dye paints or crayons. The disperse dye fabric crayons are easy to find locally, much easier than the packets of disperse dye, and they lack any unpleasant smell; you should be able to find them at your local sewing store. See my page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers".

Please let me know how well iDye Poly, or whatever brand of disperse dye you choose to buy, works on your sweat wicking material test shirt. I would very much like to know whether or not the moisture-wicking surface finish interferes with the dyeing process. Let me know if you have more questions about disperse dye before you try it.

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Posted: Friday - October 15, 2010 at 06:50 AM

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Trying to tie-dye sweat-wicking material shirts

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