Name: Chelsea

Message: I've already tie died a shirt but I don't know how to wash it without all the dies going together. I used RIT die. Please let me know.

The all-purpose dye you used is not a washfast dye. You cannot wash your shirt without also washing out at least some of the dye with every washing. Did you apply your dye by simmering the clothing in a cooking pot with the dye? If so, you can wash it, but only by hand, gently, in cold water. 

If you used warm, cool, or room-temperature water to tie-dye with all-purpose dye, don't even bother trying to save it. Rit is a hot water dye and will not bond to the fiber in cooler water. Just wash the dye out of the shirt with hot water, so you can try again after you buy some more appropriate dye. A small amount of dye remaining in the shirt can be dyed over.

It is much better if you use a completely different type of dye, to start with, for tie-dyeing. All-purpose dye is a hot water dye which cannot be used for tie-dyeing at room temperature.

In order to make any all-purpose dye acceptably washfast, you must apply a commercial dye fixative called Retayne. You will have to buy your Retayne by mail-order, unless you have a good local quilting supply store, but it's not expensive and there are several different companies from which you can order it. See my page about Commercial Dye Fixatives.

The best dyes to use for tie-dyeing are cool water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. Look carefully at the brand name on the package. The Rit dye company does not sell this kind of dye; they sell only all-purpose dyes. If you want to use a cool water dye, you must look for another brand. If you can find a tie-dye kit with the brand name "Jacquard" on it, this is the very best quality of dye for tie-deing, and will give tremendously better results, as the colors will be much brighter and will last through a hundred washings, unlike Rit dye. Some crafts stores sell other brands of good fiber reactive dye: the Rainbow Rock tie-dye kits and the Tulip tie-dye kits will work pretty well, too. 

The method used for dyeing with all-purpose dye is much more difficult than the method for using a cool water tie-dye kit. In order to use all-purpose dye to tie-dye properly, first order some Retayne so that you can use it to fix the dye afterwards. Put the all-purpose dye in a non-aluminum cooking pot (not to be used for food again, since all-purpose dye, like all clothing dye, is not food-safe) with water and heat it to a simmer, 190°F. Tie your shirt and then submerge it in the simmering hot dyebath for half an hour. For more details, see the instructions at How can I tie dye with all-purpose dye? Do not omit the use of Retayne at the end, when dyeing with all-purpose dye; if you do, be sure to hand wash your finished shirt separately from other clothing, using cool water.

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