Can I use soda ash to set my Kool-aid dye on a cotton/polyester sheet?

Name: Beth

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Country or region: USA

Message: Can I use soda ash to set my koolaid dye on a sheet (cotton polyester) so it would not fade? Or do I have to use fabric paint? What about tempra paints?

No, nothing will set Kool-aid, or any other synthetic food coloring product, on a sheet made of cotton, polyester, or any combination of the two. Kool-aid functions as a textile dye only on protein fibers, including silk and wool, as well as nylon, but never on cotton, and on no synthetic fiber other than nylon. Use Kool-aid to color your sheets only if you are never going to wash them, not even once.

Tempera paints, similarly, cannot be used on sheets that will ever be washed. There is no good way to make tempera paints wash-resistant on fabric. They are intended only for use on materials that will never be cleaned. Tempera paints will leave only a stain, some colors less intensely than others, which will become paler with every trip through the laundry. They will also run onto and spoil anything else washed in the same load of laundry.

Soda ash will not set many types of dye, and it will not set any sort of fabric paint. Soda ash is used to provide alkaline reaction conditions only for fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion dye, which is the best sort of dye for dyeing cotton or cotton-blend sheets. Using Procion dye, or the fiber reactive dye in a good tie-dyeing kit (avoiding the Rit tie-dye kit, which contains the wrong type of dye), will give much better results than using anything else to color your sheets, even though it gives paler colors on cotton/poly blends than on 100% cotton.

The only paint you should use on a cotton/polyester sheet, if you are ever going to wash it, even just once, is paint that is specifically labeled for use on fabrics. Some fabric paints will not adhere well to synthetic fibers such as polyester. All of the fabric paints made by Jacquard Products are good for cotton/poly blends. Use Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint for a thin effect similar to dyes, which will have little effect on the feel of the fabric; use Lumiere fabric paints for good metallic colors, or Neopaque to use a lighter color on top of a darker one.

You can use ordinary artists' acrylic paints on a cotton sheet, but, unlike fabric paints, the result will be stiff and scratchy, though highly diluted paint is less scratchy than paint used full-strength. You can make artists' acrylics feel softer and adhere better to sheet fabric by mixing them with a special product called fabric medium; however, it's difficult to find fabric medium in local shops, and easier to just buy a good fabric paint.

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Posted: Wednesday - July 20, 2011 at 09:10 AM All About Hand Dyeing Q&A Previous Next

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