Name: Emily
Message: Hello. I thank you for the page you made but was curious on how you get different colours on one garment. Do you dye in one colour and then in another? Do you have to wait for it to dry?

If you use cool water fiber reactive dyes on cotton, rayon, or silk, you can apply the dye directly, by painting or squirting the different colors of dye on. The dye is presoaked with the high-pH dye fixative, usually soda ash, and then is kept warm and damp overnight to allow the dyes to react, before washing out excess dye.

If you use a hot water dye, such as all-purpose dye, you must usually immerse the fabric in the dye. This is how the oldest traditional form of tie-dyeing is done. 

I recommend that you buy a Jacquard tie-dye kit, or a Procion MX tie-dye kit from a dye supplier such as PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company. Your local crafts store may carry the Jacquard tie-dye kit, or you can mail order it through Amazon or from any of the companies listed on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World page (scroll down the page for a company in your part of the world). These kits contain Procion MX dye which can be applied directly to the garment, as many colors as you like at one time. In the UK, look for Dylon Cold Water dyes.

I can't recommend the Rit tie-dye kit, because it contains all-purpose dye. All-purpose dye should be used by boiling the fabric submerged in the dye for half an hour. The results are much less bright and colorful, and do not last nearly as long in the laundry.

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