Name: Lisa
Message: i searched your site and found a little information about this but i hope you could be more specific with me. i was tought how to batik in high school, although instead of dyeing the entire thing one color, i used a method of actually coloring the lines in, like painting, with cold water dylon fabric dyes. i always used plain washed muslin, but in attempt at something new i bought some shirts that i wanted to batik on the back of. the shirt styles i like are mens workshirts, which the best i could find was a 60 cotton 40 poly blend and a 50 cotton 50 poly blend. will the batik wax stick to the fabric? and will the cold water dylon dyes stick to the fabric? any help or adice you could give me will be very helpful. thank you.

Sorry, but I have bad news for you. The polyester cannot be dyed with any dye that can dye cotton. Dylon cold water dye is a type of fiber reactive dye, which works well on cotton, far better than any all-purpose dye (though the tiny tins are much more expensive per garment than other brands of fiber reactive dye). Polyester is very difficult to dye at home, however, and entirely unsuitable for batik, since wax melts at temperatures below that required for dyeing polyester with its special dye. If you batik these shirts, your colors will be only 50% as bright as usual. While the pastels obtained by dyeing 50% cotton can be attractive in tie-dye, it will probably be very frustrating for batik.

You will need 100% cotton (or rayon, or silk) shirts for batiking. If you cannot find them locally, you can certainly find them on the web somewhere. (Try a search for "cotton work shirts".) However, shirts sold specifically as blanks for dyeing are more dependable than shirts sold for immediate use, because the latter may be treated with finishes that repel dye. Avoid any shirt with stain-resistance or a permanent press finish, as the coatings will prevent the dye from reaching the fabric evenly. Various styles of shirts sold specifically for use as clothing blanks may be obtained from various sources, such as Fiber-arts.com (click on 'blank apparel'), Alegre Fashions, and Dharma Trading Company.

It is possible to transfer the special polyester dyes known as disperse dyes to polyester fabric with an iron, after using them to create designs on paper. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

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