Name: Julie Baker
Message: I need to find a maroon dye and can only find "wine". Is there maroon available anywhere?

I think all I need is a basic dye like RIT or Tintex.  I'm just dying a skirt and a shirt. (The shirt is 70% viscose and 30% wool).  The skirt is cotton.

The color mixtures available depend completely on the dye retailer. Rit brand all-purpose dye is not available in maroon. Any color can be mixed from any type of dyes, if you start with the printer's primaries of cyan, magenta, and yellow, but it could be a lot of trouble to mix your own all-purpose dye. You might be able to get a maroon by mixing two boxes of bright red with one box of navy blue. The Tintex Hot Water Dye chart shows a maroon color for all-purpose dye, if you can find a place to buy it.

Normally I advise against the use of all-purpose dye, because it fades quickly and bleeds forever in the laundry, and it tends to be very overpriced. One box will dye only half a pound of fabric, unless you want only pastel shades, while the same amount of money will buy enough mail-order fiber reactive dye to dye over three pounds of fabric, dye which is much more permanent. However, the one case in which all-purpose dye is really appropriate is a mixture of a protein fiber such as wool with a cellulose fiber such as viscose rayon. All-purpose dye contains a mixture of a dye that will work on wool and a dye that will work on cotton or rayon. If you use all-purpose dye, be sure to follow it by applying a commercial dye fixative such as Retayne.

The biggest problem with using all-purpose dye is that it requires hot water to make a lasting bond with the fiber. All-purpose dye applied in cold water will just wash out. However, hot water may cause your clothing to shrink! Your clothing is unlikely to fit you as well after you dye it with all-purpose dye. In addition, sudden temperature changes can cause wool to felt, so be sure to increase or decrease its temperature gradually (don't go straight from a hot dyebath to a cold rinse).

It would be safer by far to choose to dye only the 70% of the fiber in your shirt that is viscose rayon. Using a cold water fiber reactive dye, you can dye the rayon, and leave the wool undyed. Results are often quite good from dyeing a fiber that makes up 70% of a fabric; you may obtain a slightly heathered look. Cool water dyes are much more appropriate for garments which you do not wish to shrink, but wool cannot be dyed in cool water. You can buy a 'maroon' Procion MX dye mixture at various dye suppliers, such as Fiber-Arts.com (this is a link to a maroon MX dye there).