Name: Kristina
Message: Hi,
I hope I'm not asking a redundant question, but I'm looking for some clarification after reading up on your web site. I just bought some cotton seat covers for my old car and picked up some Rit dye on an impulse, thinking I'd tie-dye them. I realize this isn't the best dye to use, but I don't care if they fade or if the color isn't that vivid -- I just wanted a quick way to liven them up. I do care if they shrink, and I definitely don't want the color to come off on me. CAN I use the Rit dye in cold water? Will the color all come out in the initial rinse, or will it be OK at least until (if) I wash them? I can live with plain tan seats if this won't work (more easily than I can live with a green-stained back), so your advice would be appreciated!

How much do you value your time and effort? It takes a lot of time to tie-dye using all-purpose dye (see the recipe), because each color section should be immersed separately for at least half an hour, and the results are never as good as the results you can easily get by just using quality dye to begin with, especially if you do not use very hot water.

It's easy to mail-order good fiber reactive dye, which is usually listed as Procion or MX dye, and the dye costs much less, per pound of fabric to be dyed, than does all-purpose dye (since each box of all-purpose dye will dye only about the equivalent of one t-shirt). And, of course, the results of using cool water dye would be much better, since your need to avoid shrinkage demands that use use a cool water technique. To order some good quality dye, look for a "tie dye kit" from almost any of the retailers on my listing of different companies that sell dye.

When tie-dyeing with all-purpose dye, you really should stick to the old fashioned single-color method of tie-dyeing, which means that you tie the fabric and then immerse it in the dyebath. Since you are not using the correct temperature for the dye (the 190 degrees Fahrenheit required for best results would shrink your fabric!), leave the fabric in the dyebath for a longer period of time. Do not attempt the squirt-bottle recipe that is often used with cool water dyes! Immersion dyeing with all-purpose dye can work, even in water than is less hot than ideal, if you are not too picky about retaining a lot of dye in the fabric, and don't really care whether the colors you get are bright or dull, and will not be washing the item in the future. Immersion dyeing is solid color dyeing. A multi-colored variant, called low water immersion dyeing, is the easiest of all methods of dyeing, and is often misidentified ass tie-dyeing, so do be sure to check that out, too. It is best done with fiber reactive dyes, but if you use only a small amount of water and do not stir, you should get a similar result with other types of dye.

You MUST rinse the fabric throughly after dyeing to prevent dye from rubbing off on people, no matter what sort of dye you use. Some of the dye you want will rinse out, too, but now all will wash out on the first rinsing. You will want to use cool water for washing, to maximize the amount of dye that stays in the fabric, and also, of course, to minimize shrinkage.