Name: Priscilla
Message: Hi, If I order dye from you today, can you over night express it? I need to do a tie dye project this week with my class.

No, the dyes sold through Amazon via my web page of Procion MX color chips are shipped by Artist & Craftsman Supply, which does not appear to offer expedited shipping within the US as an option.

You can find other sources from which to mail-order Procion MX and other dyes on my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World. If you are on the east coast of the US, try PRO Chemical & Dye; on the west coast, try Jacquard Products for 8 ounces or more per dye color, or Dharma Trading Company for large or small quantities. All of these companies offer tie-dye kits, as well as bulk dyes. Choosing a nearby supplier helps to speed even expedited shipping.

To buy locally, look for a Jacquard brand Tie Dye Kit at your local crafts store or fabric store; these are the best tie-dye kits that are available locally. If you cannot find this brand, look for Tulip, Dritz, or Rainbow Rock tie-dye kits, which also contain good Procion MX type dyes. You will need several boxes of each of these kits for a whole class.

If all you can find is Dylon Cold Water Dye or Dylon Hand Dye, see the instructions for using them to tie-dye on the Dylon web site.

Avoid tie-dye kits that contain all-purpose dye, such as the Rit brand tie-dye kits. The problem with all-purpose dye is that it will bleed forever in every wash, and it requires nearly boiling water for their best performance. They are too difficult to use for multi-color tie-dyeing, and the results are inferior to those obtained with a fiber reactive dye such as are sold in the other brands of tie dye kits I've listed.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Name: Rosemary
Message: I am in a mess! I am a maid of honour in a wedding and have run out of time. the dress I ordered is not wine burgundy but cherry chinese red! It is made of a stiff chiffon type taffetta and satin underneath skirt fabric. I wanted to know which dye would you bes recommend as I am doomed anyway and if I do not try to make this dress the right color, I will not be able to find someone who can make me another dress in time for this wedding!
I hope you can help me! Is there a way I can spray dye this dress in the places I need like the satin underneath the chiffon? I can always send you a picture.

I am sorry to say that dyeing is not always the answer.

Is your dress washable? You cannot dye a dress that is dry clean only. Linings will either shrink or fail to shrink as much as the outer layer of fabric, zippers and trim will pucker, and the whole dress will be ruined.

Is your dress made of a dyeable fiber, such as silk, or is it made of undyeable polyester? You did not mention what the dress is made of. Chiffon and satin are merely descriptions of the way the fabric is woven. Chiffon, taffeta, and satin are all fabrics that can be made of many different fibers. The highest quality chiffon, taffeta, and chiffon are woven from silk, not synthetics, but since you did not mention their fiber content we must assume that the fabrics are of a lower cost material such as polyester or nylon. 

A novice dyer cannot dye even a washable dress, if it is made of polyester. Dyeing polyester is a difficult matter, requiring boiling for an hour with a special kind of dye, Disperse dye, which is made for dyeing synthetic fibers, but you must use a cooking pot that is large enough for the garment to move freely, and the pot should not be aluminum, and it should never again be used for food. Such a pot is likely to  cost a large sum of money. And, even so, one cannot expect the first thing one dyes to work out nearly as desired.

You can change the color of polyester in a different way, using fabric paint instead of dye. Unfortunately, fabric paints will not leave the fabric as smooth, soft, and shiny as it currently is, and it is impossible to get a perfectly smooth, solid color. You can do this only if you will be satisfied with a relatively splotchy coloring; of course this can be very pretty, but it depends on what you want. I cannot really recommend that you make your first fabric painting project be changing the color of a formal dress. However, if you want to try it, you must buy a high quality fabric paint that will flow smoothly on the fabric and not make it rough in appearance and feel. Do not use a paint that is not labeled for use on fabrics, and do not use a paint that is expected to leave anything you can feel on the fabric, such as slick fabric paint, textured fabric paint, or puffy fabric paint. One of the best paints to try for this sort of project would be Jacquard's Dye-Na-Flow, which is available from some local crafts stores. You will probably need to use several jars for one dress; the effect is best if you turn the unevenness into a virtue, by sponging or spraying on splotches of different colors, possibly including a metallic gold or silver as one of the colors.

If you can dye just the underskirt, leaving the overskirt its current color, that could help a lot with how perfect your job of painting has to be. How would you keep the paint from bleeding from one section of the skirt onto the other, though, when the paint is wet? It will tend to bleed over onto any fabric that is touching it. It would be best to pick out the stitching and color one piece of fabric when it is not touching the dress, then sew it back together. Obviously this will require some real skill (or courage) in sewing.

It is always important to run tests before undertaking any big or important job of fabric dyeing or painting. You should always obtains at least scraps of the identical material and test the method you think will work, before ever touching the material to be used in the final project. If you cannot get scraps of your material from your dress maker, you will have to attempt to test the fabric paint on the inside of a seam. However, often the paint will wick right into the fabric and quickly appear on the outside of the garment, so this is a fairly dangerous undertaking.  If you can wear the dress in its current color, that would certainly be better. What will you do if the results of the dyeing or painting turn out to be a disaster? This is something that one must always consider before starting any project.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Name: Mariska de Bruin
Message: Dear Paula,
Nice (and comprehensive!) website you've got. I've been searching around a little, because I'm considering to dye my jeans. They've got those white whiskers and fadings on them, which I want to make more subtle. I was wondering if you've got any experience with "Dylon jeans art"? 

Because I want to try to keep the blue&white effect normal jeans have, instead of the solid color you get if you dye the whole jeans (e.g. in the washing machine). I tried to get some English info about "Dylon jeans art", but the only I could find was Dutch or French. In case you happen to understand either one of them, please check: one or two.

The English translation of the info I found, is:

Dylon jeans art: It's a way to give your jeans a personal look. A simple way to give them a "stone washed" look. With this handy kit you can also paint an image onto your jeans (with the included brush). Suitable for all washable denims.

Do you know Dylon jeans art?
With Dylon Jeans art you can give a personal style to your denim.
- Tie Die
- Painted effect
- Bleached effect
- Marble effect
- Stripes effect
- Stonewashed effect
- Dirty denim effect

I don't know if such a product is available in the USA, maybe under another name. But in case you've tried it, please let me know what results it gave!


You might want to try dyeing your jeans, or discharging them, or both. There is one insurmountable problem with dyeing cotton denim. The blue/white effect of denim fabric is produced by twill weaving undyed white threads in one direction (the weft) with dyed indigo blue threads in the other direction. You can get this effect only by dyeing the thread before weaving. If you dye the fabric after it is woven, you will get more of a solid color, which will not look like new denim. It will look more like a solid color cotton twill. If you overdye your jeans lightly with any dye, all of the lighter patches, both the white threads and the white whiskers and fading, will become more subtle. Blue denim overdyed with a completely different color, such as black, purple, or brown, can produce a very nice effect, or for the most subtle effect, you could choose blue dye. I recommend a fiber reactive dye for this purpose, such as Procion MX dye or Dylon Washing Machine Dye.

Discharging, that is, removing dye from, indigo-dyed denim is interesting, because it requires a different chemistry than discharging other dyes. Indigo is a vat dye, and the same chemical reduction processes that will remove many other dyes will only temporarily change the color of indigo to yellow. This means that you must avoid the common fabric discharges that are based on sulfur. You cannot use sodium hydrosulfite, which is also known as sodium dithionite, Rit Color Remover, Carbona Color Run Remover, or (most likely) Dylon Fabric Colour Stripper. These are all excellent choices for discharging other fabrics, but do not use them on indigo-dyed denim.

Chlorine bleach, which is the common household cleanser that contains 5% or so of sodium hypochlorite (the chemical abbreviation of NaClO is the same in any language), can work very well on denim. Of course, you must be careful not to get this chemical on your skin, or to breath a lot of fumes from it, and be careful to never mix it with ammonia (NH4) or any acidic substance at all, because of the extremely hazardous fumes which will result. You can apply it in a washing machine load, or you can apply it directly for specific effects. If you are going to apply hypochlorite bleach directly to your denim jeans, I strongly recommend that you work outside, to minimize breathing the fumes, and wear gloves as well as clothing that you do not mind getting bleach spots on. You can dilute the bleach with water, perhaps 1:10, and apply it with a sprayer or by painting it on. If you use a sprayer, wear a good gas respirator to avoid breathing in any of the chlorine bleach mist. Be sure to have a full tub of water ready to rinse your jeans in immediately as soon as you see that their color has lightened as much as you like.

If you would like your jeans to get worn-looking quickly, then you will not mind the damage that the chlorine can do to the fabric. If you choose to use chlorine bleach to discharge items that you do not want to be further degraded, such as art projects, then you should neutralize the bleach after you have rinsed the garment, as otherwise some bleach, or some breakdown products caused by the bleach, may continue to damage the fabric. Some older books recommend the use of vinegar to neutralize the chlorine bleach. This is a very bad idea, because acids plus chlorine bleach produce considerably more damaging chemicals, such as chlorine gas. There are several chemicals that may be safely used to neutralize chlorine bleach in fabric, after it has been rinsed. These include the 3% hydrogen peroxide that is sold as an antiseptic; sodium thiosulfate, which you may be able to find in photography supply stores; and sodium bisulfite, or potassium bisulfite, or metabisulfite, which are used in the food industry and which may often be purchased at wine brewing supply shops. In the US, we find that sodium metabisulfite, which is sold as Anti-Chlor, is by far the most economical choice for neutralizing chlorine bleach on fabric.

Dylon Designer Denim appears to be another name for the same product you found as Dylon Jeans Art. Look at the brochure for Dylon Designer Denim, which is a PDF document. I have not tried this product myself, but I would encourage you to try it, if the pictures they supply look like what you want. I suspect that it probably contains the chemical sodium dichloroisocyanurate, which used to be available as Rit Fast Fade for Jeans. Sodium dichloroisocyanurate, like chlorine bleach, will lighten the color of indigo, the dye traditionally used to dye blue denim. The cost of chlorine bleach is lower, but the Dylon product might be gentler to the fabric and possibly less toxic for you, during use. This chemical must be a much safer choice than potassium permanganate, which is used industrially to make the "whiskers" and other bleached spots on jeans. Be sure to check the instructions for any health precautions that you should take; if you don't see any, you should still be careful to work with good ventilation, and wear good plastic gloves, as with all household chemicals.

There are more discussions of different chemicals used for discharging fabric, as well as different chemicals used for neutralizing chlorine bleach, on the Dye Forum at the following link:
Discharge Dyeing on the Dye Forum
Perhaps you could join the Dye Forum and post pictures of your results!


(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Name: Debriella
Message: I've tried using this password to log in and it keeps telling me invalid username and/or password. The only thing I was inquiring about was on how to dye these shoes to match a periwinkle dress.

The Dye Forum is really for those who wish to continue to discuss dyeing, not for single questions.

If you will read the subject line of the message you replied to, or the text of the message, you will see why your password did not work. No one can post until their accounts have been individually approved. The Dye Forum is being heavily targeted by spambots, which has required me to install account approval before anyone can post.

I will approve your account for the Dye Forum if you can tell me that you intend to continue to take an interest in dyeing. No experience in dyeing is required for membership, but a continued interest in hand dyeing is essential.

Your choice in shoes is the best I have seen for dyeing. Most wedding shoes are made with a polyester satin fabric, not silk, so they cannot be dyed easily, only tinted or painted. Since the shoes you have chosen are covered with silk, a protein fiber which can also be dyed exactly like cotton, there are many different ways that they can be dyed or painted.

Silk is the easiest of all fibers to dye, but since you cannot expose shoes to the heat required for most silk dyes, you have two main choices. Once is to use the same Procion MX dye as is used to tie-dye cotton, along with soda ash which you would add directly to the dye. (Dilute Marine Violet should make a nice periwinkle.) This would be a good solution for someone who already dyes cotton. The other, which is probably more suitable for the dye novice, would be to use a high quality silk paint, such as Jacquard Dye-na-flow fabric paint or Setasilk fabric paint. You MUST buy some silk satin yardage from your local fabric store to practice on, as there is no other way to be sure that you are using the right color and intensity of paint. Let your test scraps of silk dry before comparing their colors to the color you wish to match.

Let me repeat - you MUST run TESTS before you touch your shoes with any fabric dye or fabric paint!

Dye-na-flow and Setasilk fabric paints are very easy to use. Any high-quality thin fabric paint labeled for use on silk will work well. Some fabric paints that do not include the word 'silk' on the label will be too thick for your purposes, and will leave too rough of a feel on the fabric.

Alternatively, simply follow the instructions on the page for the silk shoe , which says to contact your local shoe repair store to get them to custom dye the shoes for you.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Name: Greg

Message: Is it possible to dye a micro fiber (synthetic suede) couch? We purchased this sectional couch in a pale yellow color. Nice at the time but terrible to keep clean. Wondering if we can dye it a darker color, brown perhaps. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance.

Synthetic suede microfiber is generally made of polyester, though it might possibly be made of nylon. Dyeing polyester requires immersing the fabric in a huge pot of boiling water for an hour with a special kind of dye called Disperse dye. This seems impractical for a couch. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dye", at http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dispersedye.shtml, for more information.

Instead of using dye, you could use fabric paint, to color your couch. This will probably cost as much as getting a slipcover made, however, so do not look at this as a cost-saving measure. See these links: "Can furniture be dyed successfully?" and  "Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture"  for detailed information and instructions.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Name: Martin
Message: Where do you get synthrapol, what store would carry it?

A good local quilting supply store, if you have one, should carry Synthrapol dyer's detergent. Otherwise, you should probably get it from the same source that you order your dyes from. See "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".

If you shop at Amazon, here's a link for ordering Synthrapol through their site.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Name: Kayla
Message: We are tie dying t-shirts for our first graders to use as spirit shirts and I would like to know how much of the Procon stuff do I need to buy.  We have approx. 100 students.  Thanks

I would recommend that you mail-order a kit intended for 50 or 100 adults. For example, PRO Chemical & Dye sells a "Party Pack for 100 people". Alternatively, buy the same quantities that are recommended in that kit: a total of twelve ounces of dye powder in different colors; six pounds of soda ash (sodium carbonate); four pounds of urea; one pint of Synthrapol (you can use other detergent if necessary); 36 plastic squeeze bottles; two pounds of rubber bands; and dust masks for each adult who will be mixing the dye powder with water to make the dye solutions. Also, be sure to buy one pair of size extra-small disposable plastic gloves for every child. Gloves are very important. Plastic aprons are also helpful, as the dye will permanently stain the children's own clothing if they are careless or messy.

Since children's shirts are smaller than adult's shirts, you might be able to get by with half as much of each material, except for the gloves, as is called for in a kit for 100 adults. It is usually better to err on the side of getting too much of your materials, rather than too little, however.

You will find that mail-order Procion MX dye is much less expensive than the dye you can buy in a local crafts store. If you can find a Jacquard tie-dye kit in your local crafts store, buy several kits. For example, if you find the "small" tie dye kit that is labeled as dyeing up to five shirts, buy twenty boxes. If you find the "large" kit that is labeled as dyeing up to fifteen shirts, buy seven boxes. 

(DO NOT buy a tie-dye kit that contains all-purpose dye, as it requires you to immerse the shirts in boiling water for half an hour, for optimal results, and yet even then will bleed in the laundry forever. Procion MX dye will give tremendously better results.)

If you are not already an experienced tie-dyer, please tie-dye yourself a test shirt in advance, before taking on the full 100-child project, to make sure that you understand the recipe required.


(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Message: Can a pressure cooker be used to dye polyester from pink to black to get the high temps needed?

I generally recommend against dyeing a polyester dress, because it's not worth the cost, time, or effort, compared to buying a new dress. Dyeing takes practice and trial and error; it is very difficult to get the desired result the very first time you try, especially when dyeing synthetics, and you might destroy the dress. Would it be possible to get a local seamstress to copy the dress in black fabric? That would probably give the best results.

There is a big problem in trying to dye any dress, if the dress is not washable. Can your dress be washed? A garment cannot be dyed unless it is washable. There is a strong possibility that a dress that is marked "dry clean only" will not survive the dyeing process. The stitching may shrink, or the fabric may prove to be fragile. If there is a lining to the dress, it is will shrink to a different extent than the dress, which will ruin the way it looks. If the dress is not lined, it might be possible to wash it and dye it.

There are two main options for coloring a polyester dress. One is a special kind of dye called 'disperse dye', which can be purchased by mail-order from PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts or Aljo Dye in New York City. The other is to use fabric paint. The disadvantage of fabric paint is that the color produced may not be even, but its advantage is that it does not require boiling the dress, and therefore is less likely to destroy it.

You cannot dye polyester with an all-purpose dye, such as Rit, as the color will tend to wash out; also, the darkest color you are likely to obtain is grey, not black. Using a pressure cooker will not make an all-purpose dye work. The problem is that the dye has no affinity for the polyester fabric and will just wash out. Rit dye can be used only on natural fibers, plus nylon and rayon, but never on polyester. Given that the dress needs to be worn only once, perhaps it would be better to try using all-purpose dye than trying nothing at all, but don't use a pressure cooker with it. If you try this, use at least four packets of dye per pound of fabric, in a very large cooking pot. The result is likely to be burgundy rather than black, but this might still be more suitable for a funeral.

If you mail-order some good disperse type dye, a pressure cooker could, in theory, be used for dyeing polyester, but any folds in the dress are likely to produce lines after you are finished with dyeing it, so being unable to stir the dress during the cooking process would be a problem. Instead of using a pressure cooker, you can use a carrier chemical such as PRO Chemical & Dye's carrier chemical, PRO Dye Carrier NSC. This chemical reduces the temperature needed for dyeing polyester so that boiling the dress for an hour with the chemical and the dye would suffice.

Using fabric paint instead of disperse dye seems like a better idea to me. The chance that the dress will survive the treatment is higher. A garment that is colored with fabric paint should normally be heat-set and then washed, but I usually recommend that a dress not be washed until at least a week after applying the fabric paint, though you will not be able to wait that long. If you use fabric paint, try firmly rubbing a clean cloth on it, after it is completely dry; if color does not transfer, it should be safe to wear the dress, once, without endangering furniture that comes into contact with it.

Your choice of what kind of fabric paint you use is crucial. You do not want to use any kind of thick fabric paint, such as puffy paint, slick paint, or anything else that is supposed to leave any feeling on the fabric. You need to use a thin fabric paint. Acrylic artists' paints can be used if you can find some fabric paint medium to mix it with; otherwise, the results will be rather stiff and scratchy. Your local crafts supply store is unlikely to carry fabric paint medium, however, I am afraid. The best paint for this purpose would be a very thin fabric paint, such as Jacquard Dye-na-flow.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Name: Kirsten
Message: I don't believe this question is on your site yet....
I'm looking to dye a cotton muslin strip of cloth. I'll be using the cloth to make a sling to carry my baby in. When she is in her other sling, she tends to suck on the edge of the fabric. What method do you recommend to ensure that when she is sucking on the fabric that the dye doesn't get pulled out of the fabric and into her system?  thank you for your attention to this. Kirsten

Do not use all-purpose dye for this project. All-purpose dye will bleed a tiny bit whenever it gets wet, and some of the cationic dye fixatives used to set such dyes may not be safe for a baby to chew on.

What you must do is use a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, and apply it correctly, so that it makes a permanent molecular bond to the fabric. Then you must wash in hot water until all unattached dye is removed. 

You will use soda ash and give the dye plus fabric plus soda ash enough time in a warm place (70°F or higher) for the reaction to fully proceed. You can follow the instructions at "How to Dye with Fiber Reactive Dye".

You can test to be sure all excess dye has been removed by dampening the fabric and placing it between two white cloths, then ironing it dry. If any loose dye transfers to the cloth, then repeat the washing in hot water (140°F). Soaking the dyed items in hot water as part of the washing-out stage can help to economize on hot water. The dye that is attached to the fiber will not come out even if boiled.

See also:
"IS IT SAFE TO DYE COTTON PRE-FOLD DIAPERS? I MEAN, IS IT SAFE FOR THE BABY TO WEAR THE DYED DIAPERS?"
(Posted in my Dyeing Q&A Blog on February 24, 2007)

"IS THERE A WAY TO TYE DYE A BABIES' ONESIE THAT IS 100% COTTON USING HOMEMADE DYES?"
(Posted in my Dyeing Q&A Blog September 28, 2006)


(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)