Message: I recently acquired an autograph on a white cotton t-shirt, which hasn't yet been laundered. Is there any way to help set the dye so that it won't fade? The autograph was made with a black Sharpie marking pen.

The black Sharpie pen was a good choice. It should last through many launderings. However, if this is a very valuable autograph, you may wish to quit wearing the shirt much, in order to reduce the number of launderings, so that it will last longer.

If there is any chance that it was NOT a Sharpie pen, you should avoid washing it at all. We have seen such signatures disappear on the first washing.

A fabric paint will protect anything underneath it from wear. You can buy "clear" fabric paint, which is intended for use as a base to add pigment to. Probably "ProFab Base Extender" would work for this purpose; see http://www.prochemical.com/catalog/colorconcentrates.htm . Test it first, though, on an unimportant Sharpie pen mark on some scrap fabric. Before ordering, you should contact the company (via http://www.prochemical.com/contact.htm ) to ask whether the extender is clear enough to work for this purpose.