Name: Joel

Message: Dear Paula,

I am so happy that there is a website out there like yours. You are God's gift to lost (don't know what to do) souls.

I am planning to buy new chef coats and dye them lime green and/or a salmon color. The fabric is 65 cotton and 35 polyester. What kind of dye do you recommend. I intend to dye them (about 6 or 8 chef jackets) manually.

To dye the 35% of the fabric that is polyester, you'd have to boil the coats in a large non-aluminum pot with a special type of dye called disperse dye and a noxious carrier chemical; you'd never again be able to use the pot for food, however. I generally recommend against bothering with this. (The treatment would probably shrink the cotton and damage the jackets.)

Dyeing just 65% of the fiber, with a dye that works only on cotton, is usually the best approach. It's quite easy to do well. Your results will, of course, be only 65% as bright or intense as if you were dyeing 100% cotton. This may be perfectly fine, if you're not trying for a neon-bright look. I would advise you to try dyeing just one garment before purchasing the rest, to make sure that it does work for you. If you want a neon-bright look, you should look for a supplier that can sell you 100% cotton jackets. However, unless the supplier specifies otherwise, the stitching will almost always be polyester thread, which will not dye at all, and will remain white. This is usually acceptable, but you'll have to see it to be sure. If the stitching must be the same color as the fabric, it is best to buy jackets that have been sewn with matching thread, using already-dyed cloth of the desired color. Beware of stain-resistant finishes on the white jackets, by the way, as they will prevent dye from reaching the fiber evenly.

It is certainly best to avoid all-purpose dye on cotton, because it fades quickly and runs in the laundry. It also requires extremely hot water, ideally 190 degrees Fahrenheit, which may shrink the jackets. All-purpose dye will dye cotton or nylon, but not polyester.

The best dye to use on cotton is called fiber reactive dye. You will want to use a cold water dye, such as Procion MX, Cibacron F, or Drimarene K. The most popular type in the US is Procion MX dye. The easiest way to dye the jackets a solid color would be in a top-loading washing machine; see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?"; this will not harm your washing machine. To dye a solid color without a washing machine requires a large bucket and a huge amount of stirring; I much prefer the washing machine method. You will also need soda ash, which you can buy from a swimming pool store or your dye supplier, and large amounts of ordinary salt, preferably non-iodized. For a more unusual look, you could consider low water immersion dyeing, which is even easier than washing machine dyeing. For tie-dyeing you would not need salt, but you would also need urea.

You can buy Procion MX or other cold water fiber reactive dye from any of the suppliers on my list of different companies that sell dye. It is rare to be able to buy good dye locally, so most dyers get their dye by mail-order. Here are a couple of direct links to Procion MX type dye at Tie-dyed.com: bright orange and bright green; to get a lime green, I'd mix equal parts of bright green and lemon yellow, while salmon would be a mixture of bright orange and bright red.


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