I have about 20 white restaurant tablecloths I would like to dye into ivory. How can I go about doing that? Can you please advise? It's for an upcoming event in 5 days.

Are the tablecloths made of a dyeable material, such as cotton or linen? Do not try to dye polyester. You can dye 50% polyester/50% cotton, but only the cotton portion will dye, creating paler colors. Nylon requires a different class of dyes than cotton, called acid dyes.

Since tablecloths must be washed, and frequently, it is usually important to use a highly washfast dye. For this reason, do not use all-purpose dye unless there is truly no other choice. If you do use all-purpose dye, dye in the hottest water available, preferably 190 degrees Fahrenheit (88 C). However, if the only time the performance of these cloths matters is the very first time they are used, in five days' time, any sort of dye will do. If you use cooler water with all-purpose dye, the dye will wash out later, but that may be okay for your purposes this week.

Washing large items such as tablecloths is best done in a washing machine, preferably one of the European type that can heat the water to a much higher temperature than a household water heater can reach, but those machines are practically unavailable in the US, so that's only a dream for most of us. If you use fiber reactive dye, follow ProChem's instructions for "Immersion Dyeing in the Home Washing Machine using PRO MX Reactive Dyes". If you use all-purpose dye on cotton, follow the manufacturer's instructions as closely as possible (though following ProChem's directions for "Immersion Dyeing using Diazol Direct Dyes" would give longer-lasting results; you'd need to at least double the amount of dye used to make up for the unneeded components in the all-purpose dye mixture).