Name: Phil

Message: I want to dye some uniform shirts that are navy blue without coloring the white lettering on the chest with the company name. How do I protect the lettering from the dye?

What is the lettering made with? If it is embroidery, then it depends on what fiber the embroidery thread was made from. If it's polyester, it won't take cotton dyes; if it's nylon, it will be colored by all-purpose dye but not by Procion MX dye; and if it's rayon, it will dye exactly like the cotton shirt material.

For that matter, what are the shirts made of? If they are 100% cotton, and not stain-resistant or permanent press, they should dye very well, but if they are a cotton/polyester blend, they won't dye very well at all.

What color do you want to dye the shirts? Navy blue is such a dark color that you can't dye it any other color except for black. Since dye is transparent, lighter colors will not show up on top of the navy blue. If you want to lighten the color of the shirts, you'll have to use Color Remover instead of dye.

If you cannot determine what fiber the embroidery thread is made of, I recommend that you dye one shirt as a test, using a cold water fiber reactive dye. I recommend Procion MX fiber reactive dye. You can do a small-scale test using Tulip One Step Fashion Dye or Dylon Cold Water Dye, which contain the same sort of dye as Procion MX dyes. Tulip One Step Fashion Dye and Dylon Cold Water Dye have the advantage of being locally available in some good local crafts stores. Otherwise, I would encourage you to buy the Procion MX fiber reactive dye by mail-order. Avoid all-purpose dye, such as Rit or Tintex dye, because they are more likely to color the lettering on your shirts, and because they fade much more quickly than fiber reactive dye.

If the lettering on your first test shirt is not unaffected by the dye, you will have to cover the lettering with a resist, such as batik wax, before dyeing the rest of the shirts.

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