I used RIT dye at a friend's house when tie-dying a t-shirt, and I'm pretty sure that we did it totally wrong.

We put the dye in boiling water and then dipped the shirt directly in there after tying it up with rubber bands. After dipping it into a few colors, we hung the shirts up to air dry. What's going to happen to my shirt when I wash it, and how should I wash it?

All-purpose dye, such as Rit All Purpose Dye or Tintex Easy Fabric Dye, is not very good for tie-dyeing, unfortunately. You will need to wash your shirt only in cold water, by hand, separately from other garments, and yet, even if you do so, you can still expect it to fade rapidly and bleed every time it gets wet.

Boiling the dye in the water and dipping the shirts in it is the best method, if you hold the shirts in the boiling dye for half an hour or longer. You can hold the shirts in the boiling dye for as little as four minutes, if all you want is a pale pastel color, but bright colors take more time. Dipping for a few seconds is not very good. It takes extended heat to get all-purpose dye to attach to the fiber as well as possible.

After you rinse your shirts in cool water, you can help to prevent further fading by applying a commercial dye fixative, such as Retayne or the new Rit Dye Fixative. There is no home remedy that can substitute for these dye fixatives. Neither vinegar nor salt will help to make the Rit dye in your shirts permanent. You can buy Retayne by mail-order from any good dye supplier.

Next time you tie-dye, please do not use all-purpose dye! You cannot get excellent results with this inferior dye. Instead, next time, use a good fiber reactive dye, such as the Procion MX dyes that are used in all good tie-dye kits. You can't buy good dye in the grocery store, but you can find it in most crafts stores and some fabric stores. Look for a tie-dye kit made by Jacquard, Dylon, Rainbow Rock, or Tulip. All of these brands of tie-dye kits contain excellent cool-water dyes that can be applied at room temperature, no boiling needed, and which will last for years without fading. All you have to do is use 100% natural fibers and closely follow the easy instructions included in the kit. Don't buy the Rit brand tie-dye kit, because it contains hot water dyes dye that do not work well for tie-dyeing.

For more information, see:

• How can I fix the shirts I just tie-dyed with Rit brand all-purpose dye so that they'll quit bleeding in the wash and stay bright?
• How can I tie-dye with Rit dye?
• Commercial Dye Fixatives

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[Portions of this answer were first posted, by me, on Yahoo answers, on September 30, 2008.]