Name: Joy
Message: After I have dyed a t-shirt (100% cotton) and washed it, can I apply more dye? Do I need to soak it in soda ash before I add more dye? What will it do to the dye that is already on the T-shirt?

Yes, you certainly can apply more dye. This is not only a great way to salvage things that turned out boring the first time, it may enable you to get better results than you can get in a single dyeing.

Every time you apply new dye to the shirt, you need to be sure that there is soda ash present. If you wash the shirt, this means you have to soak it in soda ash solution again. The dye requires soda ash in order to attach to the cotton, but soda ash rinses out easily.

Reapplying soda ash does absolutely no harm to the dye that was applied earlier. You can do this any number of times, just as if you were starting with a new, undyed shirt. The results of multiple dyeing like this can be richer and more beautiful than shirts that have been dyed in a single step.