Name: LeAnne

Message: We want to dye sheets a brown/black color in the washing machine.  I have your instruction on how to do that.  What I need to know is that can we use RIT dye that can be bought at Hobby Lobby and just follow your instructions or do I have to buy Jacquard Procion Dye?  Please let me know so I can buy the appropriate thing.

No, don't use all-purpose dye. It performs badly. It runs in the laundry every time you wash it, and it fades quickly. Fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dye, perform far better.

If you do buy Rit dye, you MUST NOT use the instructions for Procion MX dye. Soda ash will not help all-purpose dye work better. All-purpose dye works best when cooked on the stovetop with the fabric at 190°F (just below a boil) for half an hour or longer. Although it can be used with hot water in a washing machine, the results will fade quickly. You need to mail-order and apply a product called Retayne (from any good dye supplier) if you want to make all-purpose dye last at full color intensity for more than a few washings.

Procion MX dye is much more economical than Rit dye, if you buy 8-ounce or one-pound jars. You would need to buy many packets of Rit dye in order to have enough to dye sheets. Each packet of Rit dye is good for up to one pound of fabric for pale to medium colors, or one-quarter pound to half a pound of fabric for black. You can dye up to 8 pounds of fabric in the washing machine at a time.

The problem with good dyes is that you have to either buy them by mail-order, or, if you are very lucky and your crafts store even carries them, you have to buy tiny jars which are rather expensive for any large project. Crafts stores rarely carry good dye, and never in economical jar sizes.

For a dark brown or black, you need to use a large concentration of dye. If you are using a good fiber-reactive dye such as Procion MX dye, you will want to use between 15 and 30 grams of dye (one-half to one ounce of dye, or roughly 2 to 4 tablespoons) for every pound of fabric you have. If you have eight pounds of sheets (a reasonable limit for one washing machine load, you will need 120 to 240 grams of dye, which works out to be four to eight ounces of dye. When working with quantities this large, you will save a lot of money if you buy your dye in 8-ounce jars. Check out these links for buying eight-ounce jars of black Procion MX dye or brown Procion MX dye via Amazon. The cost is approximately eleven to fourteen dollars depending on color, plus seven dollars for shipping, for an eight-ounce jar of Procion MX dye. You can also order your Procion MX dye from any of the dye suppliers listed on my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.

If you use all-purpose dye instead of fiber reactive dye, for eight pounds of fabric, you would need to use at least 8 boxes of dye for a pale to medium color, or 16 to 32 boxes of dye for a dark to black color. Since a box of all-purpose dye, such as Rit® or Tintex®, costs approximately $2.99 per box of dye at most stores, this could be a very expensive project. It's just not worth it. Use a fiber reactive dye, instead, which will cost less money, be easier to use since you don't have to use near-boiling temperatures, and, most importantly, will last a hundred times longer in the laundry without fading.

By the way, the fiber content of your sheets is very important in determining how well they will dye. Neither all-purpose dye nor fiber reactive dye will work at all on polyester, so a 50% polyester/50% cotton sheet will dye only half as intensely as a 100% cotton sheet. Surface treatments, such as permanent press finishes, will also interfere with the dyeing process.


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