Name: rod

Message: can you tell me about dying blends like polyester/cotton? thank you

There is no single dye that will dye both the polyester and the cotton at the same time. Sorry.

Most people find it best to dye only the cotton, because that is easy, and accept that the polyester will not dye. Often the result is a heathered effect, or a pastel if the fibers are mixed closely. Cotton is easy and fun to dye with cool water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes (the latter link is to this type of dye at Tied-dyed.com); you can dye it a single color in the washing machine, or dye it multiple colors with low water immersion dyeing, or tie-dye it.

Dyeing polyester is quite a pain, and expensive, too, since you must buy a large non-aluminum cooking pot to do the dyeing in, and never again use that pot for food afterwards. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

PRO Chemical & Dye gives instructions for making a mixed dye paint that will dye both the polyester and the cotton in a cotton/poly blend at the same time: see the page "Direct Application on Polyester using PROsperse Disperse Dyes". Jacquard is now [as of 2008] selling a polyester dye called "iDye Poly", along with an all-purpose dye called "iDye", which they say can be mixed together to dye cotton and polyester blends at the same time, in a cooking pot on the stovetop. Unfortunately, you cannot dye polyester in the washing machine, because the water does not get hot enough.

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[Updated June 8, 2008.]