What's the best and cheapest dye to use on thick cotton?

The best dye is not the cheapest, but the dye you can buy at the grocery store is neither good nor cheap.

The cheapest dye you can use is called direct dye. Dharma Trading Company sells enough direct dye to dye one hundred POUNDS of cotton material for less than seven dollars. They call it "Industrial dye" and recommend you use it in a washing machine with very hot water. (You don't have to use a credit card to order from Dharma—you can send them a check instead, if you prefer.)

The best dye you can buy is called fiber reactive dye. It will last for years longer than other types of dye, without fading, and it's easier to apply, too, because it does not require hot water. If you mail-order a two-ounce jar of it big enough to dye eleven pounds of cotton fabric, it costs about five dollars. Look for Procion MX dye from any of the good dye suppliers on my list of Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.

The most expensive dye you can buy is all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye. One box of all-purpose is enough to dye only one-half to one pound of cotton fabric, costs about $3, and fades almost immediately. All-purpose dye is not a good buy, because each box dyes such a small amount, so you have to buy many boxes if you have several pounds of fabric to dye, and it fades quickly, and bleeds in the laundry forever, unless you treat it with a mail-order cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne.

Per pound of fabric, Dharma's Industrial dyes cost six cents, Dharma's Procion MX dyes cost between 40 and 60 cents (depending on the size of the jar), and Rit dye costs about three dollars. Rit dye will stay bright for several weeks or months, if you don't wash it too often, while Procion dye will stay bright for years, even if you wash it frequently in hot water.

For a chart comparing the price per pound of fabric, for many different types of dyes, see "comparison of dye costs".


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[This answer was first posted, by me, on Yahoo answers, on November 16, 2008.]