Name: Troy

Message: Will I have problems if I try to mix all purpose dye with fiber reactive dye to make a specific color?  I was unable to find Rit Kelly Green color, so I bought some green Dylon Permanent Fabric Dye.  I am going to mix it with some blue Rit dye that I already had.  Will this end up working out?

It's definitely not a good idea to dye with fiber reactive dye (the Dylon® Permanent dye) and all-purpose dye (the Rit® dye) in the same step. Their requirements for attaching to the fabric are too different. The best way to combine these two dyes is to first dye with one, wash out the excess dye and chemicals, then dye with the other as an entirely different step. The Dylon Permanent dye is chemically set with a high pH, already included in the mix, whereas the Rit All Purpose dye requires high heat to set as well as it can, though it never sets very permanently. Use the fiber reactive dye first, before using the all-purpose dye, because the all-purpose dye washes out far more easily.

Better yet, dispense with the all-purpose dye altogether. You'll get much better results if you use only fiber reactive dye. Dylon Permanent dye is truly far more permanent than any sort of all purpose dye. Mixing blue Dylon Permanent dye with Dylon Permanent green will work out fine. You will also find it less trouble to dye in a single step.

While all-purpose dye bleeds forever in the laundry, unless you mail-order a special cationic dye fixative such as Retayne and apply it, fiber reactive dye such as Dylon Permanent quits bleeding as soon as you get all of the unattached extra dye washed out, and then lasts for many times more washings than all purpose dye can before fading.

For a wider range of premixed colors, mail-order a good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, from a supplier that sells many different colors. Good sources in the US include PRO Chemical & Dye, Dharma Trading Company, and Jacquard Products. See my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World for contact info. You can order Jacquard Products dyes through Amazon; the following page shows each of the dye colors available: Color Chart for Buying Procion MX Dyes through Amazon. If you purchase via the links on that page, your purchase will help to support this web site, at no additional cost to you.

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