Name: Vanessa
Message: Greetings Paula,
I have a rather unusual request. I am making a backdrop for the front of my church for vacation bible school. The backdrop will be made out of a muslin or some other type of material and it will be around 30 feet wide and 9 feet tall, this will set the stage for our serengeti trek. On this backdrop I would like to tie dye a large sunset. The sunset will take up the whole 30 by 9 feet. Starting with the round yellow off to one side and then going with other sunset colors. I'm wondering if it is possible to tie dye this much material at one time. I have only used the rite tie dye stuff before and am not sure what tie dye material to use. If you were to do a project like this, can you give me an idea of the best way possible to go about it?
Blessings and have a good day,

If this were my project, my preference would be to paint on the fabric with Procion MX dye (or other fiber reactive dye). All-purpose dye, such as Rit, requires immersion in a large pot of simmering-hot water; somehow I doubt you have a cooking pot large enough for this piece of fabric! The colors from fiber reactive dye also tend to be much brighter and prettier than those of all-purpose dye.

You will need Procion MX dye, soda ash, and probably also urea, which helps the dye to dry more slowly, allowing more time for it to react with the fiber. You can mail-order this dye from the companies listed on my "Sources for Supplies" page. To decide roughly how much dye to buy, determine the weight of the fabric you are going to dye, and allow about half an ounce (15 grams) per pound of fabric.

The fabric must be 100% natural, for best results. Cotton muslin is very good. If you do not already have a source for your wide muslin, Dharma Trading Company (on the Sources for Supplies page) sells some wide cotton muslin. Fabric should be pre-washed in hot water with detergent and soda ash. (The best detergent to use for this purpose is Synthrapol, available from dye supply companies.)

The typical way to get the soda ash into the fabric/dye reaction, in tie-dye, is to presoak the fabric in a bucket of soda ash and water, 1 cup per gallon of water. Can you fit your piece of fabric into a large plastic garbage can for this step? If so, you can then drain the soda ash water from the fabric and stretch out the fabric wherever you are going to dye it (in the parking lot, perhaps, or on the lawn, or on plastic tarps protecting the floor in a large room). The dye, mixed with water and urea, can then be applied to the pre-soaked fabric either before or after drying. You can tie the fabric before dyeing if you wish, just like tie-dyeing an immense t-shirt, but most people identify fabric that has been dyed by pouring dye over it as tie-dye, even if it has not been tied at all.

Alternatively, you can either leave the fabric dry, or just dampen it with water, and add the soda ash mixed in *with the dye*. The dye will stay good for just a few hours after soda ash is mixed with it, so if you do not finish in one day, you must mix up fresh dye the next day, to continue working. Dye can be thickened with sodium alginate to make it more like paint, or it can be used just dissolved in water, like watercolor paint (my preference). Make the dye mixtures by dissolving from 1 to 8 teaspoons of dye per cup (250 ml) of water - so for a gallon of one color of concentrated dye solution, use from 1/3 cup to 2.5 cups of dye, depending on the intensity of the color you want. The more concentrated amounts are for applying to pre-soaked, wet fabric; if the only water involved is that mixed in with your dye, use the lower amount of dye.

You can use a pencil, or charcoal, to outline where you want the design to go. Pencil or charcoal will wash out after the dye is applied.

Once you have combined dye, water, and soda ash on the fabric (and optionally urea), the dye reaction must be allowed to take place at 70 degrees F (21 C) or above, overnight. This could be a problem if you are applying the dye out-of-doors in the wintertime. You can cover the damp fabric with plastic and roll it up, then place it in a sufficiently warm place. After a day or more, find a washing machine large enough to hold the fabric, and wash it - or carefully hose it off, if necessary, or wash it by hand in a plastic trash can or bathtub. Tie-dyers find the special detergent Synthrapol, available from dye suppliers, to be useful in helping to keep darker colors from running onto lighter colors in the same piece. Always wash dyed items in cool water first, to remove all of the soda ash, before washing in warmer water (if possible) to remove the last bits of excess dye.

It would also possible to use ordinary paint on your backdrop, but the dye mixed in water will give a nice smooth gradation of color, and leave the fabric very soft, unlike paint.