Name: Neil
Message: I'm a Mister Mom....I washed two yellow bath towels, and washcloths- both 100% Cotton in with a plaid red tablecloth by mistake. The yellow towels and washcloths now have a tint of red blotches on them. Can I dye them back to yellow, how?

You cannot cover up a darker color with dye, so dyeing the towels yellow will not, by itself, help at all. What you need to do is remove the dye.

Step one is simply to wash the towels in the hottest water possible, with a colorsafe oxygen bleach.

If that fails, then you should use either chlorine bleach or color remover. I prefer Rit Color Remover rather than bleach, because it is less damaging. You will need several boxes of color remover for a large washing machine load. Note that bleach is for use on cotton only; you should not attempt to use bleach or color remover if the towels contain any polyester. If they contain some nylon, you can use color remover, but not bleach. Bleach will destroy synthetic fibers.

Either chlorine bleach or color remover might remove the original yellow. It is impossible to predict whether or not the original yellow will remain. If the original dye has faded along with the red blotches, you may choose to re-dye them the original color, or another color.

The best dye for cotton is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. You will get much better results if you mail order some fiber reactive dye than if you use the all-purpose dye commonly available in stores. All-purpose dye tends to bleed in the laundry indefinitely. See my list of different companies around the world that sell dyes. The easiest way to dye towels or anything else a solid color is in the washing machine; see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".

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