Name: Rebecca

Message: I Love this site! I need to dye a lot of pink cotton baby clothes. After reading your site, I know not to use Rit, but i think I need to use the simplest type of dye possible- someting that is already mixed, as i am about a thousand months pregnant and probably do not need to expose myself to any extra chemicals. You state that the colors in the Tulip and dylon are less satisfactory, but I am not sure what this means- I am not looking to creat art, just to dye some pink clothes purplish or brownish. Any ideas on the best choice and most economical dye? 

The problems with the Dylon dye colors are for people who are trying to mix dyes to make specific colors. There's no reason at all why you should not use Dylon Permanent Dye, or Dylon Cold Dye, or Tulip One Step Fashion dye, to change the color of your baby clothes. (In Europe or Australia, I recommend Dylon Machine Dye, which is the same sort of dye, formulated for use in a front-loader washing machine.)

All of these brands of dye, Tulip, Dylon Cold, Dylon Permanent, and Dylon Machine, contain fiber reactive dyes, so the dyes are good and permanent, even in hot water, unlike all-purpose dyes such as Rit. (There is one Dylon dye to avoid, Dylon Multi Purpose dye, because it is another all-purpose dye, like Rit.) You will not be able to buy any of these dyes in the grocery store, but you can buy then at any good crafts or hobby store, and often at a sewing store, as well. You can also buy good tie-dye kits, made by Jacquard, Dylon, Tulip, or Rainbow Rock, sometimes even at a discount department store such as Target or Walmart. These will work very well, too. Read the instructions carefully, because one brand may be different from another, and it is important to follow the instructions.

Each of these dyes in the local store will be relatively expensive per garment, just like Rit. Each will dye only one-half to one pound of fabric (dry weight); check what the label says, and weigh your pile of clothes. If you are going to be dyeing a lot of clothes, you'll do a lot better to mail-order dye in two-ounce jars per dye color. Even with the added cost of shipping, Procion dye from an economical dye supplier will cost a lot less than the packets of dye you buy in crafts stores, because a two-ounce jar contains about ten times as much dye, for only about twice the price.

The cheapest (and best) dye suppliers in the US include Grateful Dyes in Colorado, Dharma Trading Company in California, and PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts. (See Sources for Dyeing Supplies.) Perhaps you should start with whatever Tulip or Dylon dye your local shop sells in a color you like, and then, if you like dyeing, progress to mail-ordering your favorite colors of Procion MX dye. If you want to work with liquid dye, and not mess with dye powder at all (all of the above dyes come in powdered form), I can recommend PRO Chemical & Dyes' Liquid Reactive Dyes, which I have used quite a lot on cotton, including some baby clothes. Here's a picture of one set of clothes I used the same type of dye on:

(Click on the picture to see a larger picture and a discussion of how I dyed them.)

Check the fiber contents of your baby clothes. The ones that are 100% cotton or rayon should dye very well. The ones that are 50% cotton/50% polyester will dye only half as dark, producing pastel colors. Don't bother trying to dye anything that is 100% polyester or acrylic. You can dye nylon with another type of dye (let me know if you have any nylon or wool baby clothes that you need information for).

You can overdye pink clothes to a lot of different colors: bright red, bright orange, deep blue, purple, black, or brown. You cannot recolor pink to light yellow or green, but that's about the only limitation.

You might want to consider removing color from a washing machine load of clothing first, before dyeing. I recommend that you use Rit Color Remover (which, unlike all-purpose dye, is an excellent product), in the hottest water your washing machine can supply. You will need two boxes for a full washing machine load. Some dyes will be completely removed, some partially, and some not at all; there's no way to predict what any particular garment will do, but it's well worth a try for the widest possible range of colors to dye. It's not at all difficult to use Rit Color Remover in the washing machine, no more difficult than washing clothes. You do not have to remove the pink color before you overdye the clothes, but it is worth considering the idea.

Be sure to wash any clothes that have been worn before, as thoroughly as possible, before dyeing them. There are likely to be invisible stains that will interfere with dyeing. I recommend washing them in the hottest water you can, with some detergent (Synthrapol dyer's detergent or regular laundry detergent) and some extra washing soda or soda ash for additional cleaning power. Never dye clothes that look clean, but might not be, without rewashing them first.

Fiber reactive dyes, when properly applied and the excess unattached dye washed out, are among the safest of all dyes for baby clothes. See "Dyeing Baby Clothes" and "Is it safe to dye a sling for my baby?".

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