Message: Help! This is a large project. 14 50/50 T-shirts a volleyball team wants to Tie-Dye with only Red so they are just red and white (school team colors) and then fabric paint applied in black (school color). I can't find anything but Rit Red Dye. I need to do this in the simpliest quickest manner. Here are my thoughts please let me know if this is going to work:

No, it will not work.

8. Whats next?

You cannot dye 50% polyester shirts so that they are red - you will only get pink! Buy 100% cotton shirts. Give the 50% polyester shirts away to charity, as they cannot be dyed red for your project. Polyester cannot be dyed except with a special kind of polyester dye called disperse dye, along with a toxic carrier chemical which is completely inappropriate for use by novices such as yourself. Polyester cannot be dyed with an all-purpose dye such as Rit brand dye, nor with any dye that is suitable for use on cotton or other natural fibers. If only these shirts can be used for your project, you'd better skip dyeing altogether, and use fabric paint alone. Fabric paint tends to wear quickly, but at least you can get a true red on polyester with fabric paint.

Do not use all-purpose dye, because it fades quickly even when used on good 100% cotton shirts and therefore will eventually also yield pink. Use fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dye, or Dylon Cold Water dye (*never* Dylon Multi Purpose dye!).

Soda ash is useless with all-purpose dye. You are confusing the recipe for fiber reactive dye with that for all-purpose dye. Soda ash has no role in dyeing with all-purpose dye and does nothing to help it. Soda ash is for use only with an entirely different type of dye, not for inferior all-purpose dye.

I'm afraid that your ideas for using all-purpose dye, even the liquid all-purpose dye, will not work at all. If you want to use all-purpose dye, either powdered or liquid, you must buy a five-gallon non-aluminum pot (very expensive!), tie the shirts if desired, mix 14 boxes of all-purpose red dye with water and salt (one box of dye per shirt, which makes Rit one of the most expensive types of dye), and simmer the shirts in the dye for one hour, at 190 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Then, in the future, you must reserve your expensive new pot for dye use only, because pots that have been used with dye, such as all-purpose dye, must never be used for food. Finally, you must purchase some commercial dye fixative, such as Retayne, by mail-order from a dye supplier, if you do not want your all-purpose dye to gradually come out in the laundry.

If you do not want to boil your shirts, throw away your all-purpose dye, and buy some decent quality dye instead. The best dye for cotton is fiber reactive dye; the most popular brand of fiber reactive dye is Procion MX dye. You can order Procion MX dye from any of the dye supplier companies listed on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page. Here is a direct link for an excellent source for red Procion MX dye: <http://tie-dyed.com/product.php?productid=7&partner=ProcionMX>. (For fourteen shirts, you'll need four of the little 2/3 ounce jats, or just one 8 ounce jar, which is enough for 48 shirts but costs less than $10.) This type of dye can be used at room temperature, with soda ash. It is much easier to use than all-purpose dye, costs less for the amount of dye you will need, produces much brighter colors, and lasts far longer in the laundry.



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