What is the best way to wash several new tie dyed 100% cotton shirts to prevent color fading?

Name: Connie

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Message: What is the best way to wash several new tie dyed, 100 percent cotton shirts to prevent color fading? (tulip dye) Thank you!

This is the washing technique for tie-dyed t-shirts that have been dyed with fiber reactive dyes (such as Procion dye) and soda ash, after you've allowed the shirts plenty of time to react with the dye, preferably overnight in a warm place (70°F or warmer):

Wash once in cool (or room temperature) water, to remove the soda ash, urea, and salt, and some of the extra dye, then wash at least twice in very hot water. The hotter the water is, the more efficiently it will remove the unattached excess dye. Soaking works best. If water is in short supply, use a cheap cooler (not to be reused for food) to soak your dyed fabrics in hot water.

Some dyers even use boiling water, for greatest efficiency in removing the unattached dye. Unlike other types of dye, fiber reactive dyes retain their strong bond to the fabric even in boiling water.

In your initial cool wash, either avoid detergents (since they may have a high pH), or use Synthrapol or its generic equivalent. In the later washes, use Synthrapol if you've got it, or any laundry detergent if you don't.

It is much more important to use really hot water than it is to use Synthrapol. Sufficiently hot water will remove backstaining, if you have allowed plenty of extra dye reaction time before washing out. Allowing plenty of time is essential for making sure that all of the dye has fully reacted, before you move or untie your tie-dyes; this prevents permanent backstaining that cannot be removed.

Always start with a single cool water wash, though, to reduce the tendency of the unbound dye to form loose Rit-dye-like associations with the fabric, which are more trouble to wash out. This is more of a problem if your dyes are very old, so that you have to use more to get the same amount of reactive dye activity.

Although Tulip tie-dye kits are claimed to include all of the chemicals you need, already mixed into the dye powder, when you buy them, the Tulip Dye company says that best color results can be obtained by presoaking your items in soda ash, dissolved in water. This might imply that they do not include as much soda ash in their kits as they should. It won't make any difference to the proper way of washing out the excess dye after dyeing, though.

If your tie-dyes made with reactive dyes fade when you use the hot water method to wash the excess dye out, the problem is not caused by the washing method, but by not using enough dye to begin with (it should be darker than you want, before washout), by not allowing enough reaction time (overnight or longer is best), by not keeping the clothing warm enough while the dye reacts with it (under 70°F or 21°C is a problem), or by letting the dye dry on the fabric too quickly (which can be prevented by using urea in the dye mixtures, by wrapping in plastic overnight, or by working in a place that has a humid environment). See the FAQ, "My colors just washed out! What happened?". I have heard more than once that the colors produced by the Tulip kits are not as vibrant as those from other brands of tie-dye kits, such as from Jacquard Products or Dharma Trading Company, although they do contain the same good type of dye.

Note that tie-dyes made with all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye, will bleed badly when washed, creating big problems for multi-color tie-dye designs. Anything that is dyed with all-purpose dye must never be washed according to the instructions I gave above! It must be washed only in cold water, by hand, separately from other items. Don't ever follow the hot-water reactive-dye washing-out technique with all-purpose dyes, direct dyes, or acid dyes.

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Posted: Sunday - June 26, 2011 at 09:11 AM

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What is the best way to wash several new tie dyed 100% cotton shirts to prevent color fading?

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