Message: I am using Procion MX dyes for tie dye. I have thought up a design that required dying it twice (the second dying will be in black). If I dye it once, rinse it, wash it, then put it in soda ash, will the soda ash pull the dye from the shirt? If it will do you know what percentage of the dye will be pulled related to the concentration of the soda ash? Anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated. Love the site and thanks. :D 

Procion MX dye will not be stripped by soda ash. There is no problem in redyeing the same piece by repeating the soda ash soak and another dye application. I've done this many times with no problem at all.

In fact, multiple applications of soda ash and dye can result in deeper, richer colors than you are likely to achieve in single dyeing. I like to dye the same piece multiple times. When you dye the fabric the first time, some of the dye sites in the fabric are unavailable to the dye, thanks to chance in how the water penetrates the fabric and so on. When you wash out the fabric, dry it, and then soak again in soda ash, it seems that more dye sites are opened up. 

There is another good fiber reactive dye, the Remazol or vinyl sulfone dye class, which should not be re-soaked in hot soda ash, because Remazol dyes work a little differently and can be stripped by hot alkaline conditions. It is okay to soak even Remazol-dyed fabric in room temperature soda ash, though.

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