Help! Tye goof up! School Project

[memphisddeb]

Help,

I went to the Rit dye .com and tried to do a 3 tone blue tye dye shirt for the class and it did not come out like it was suppose to.  What if I put elastics on them and redye with scarlet?  Right now I just have plain old blue teeshirts.

Memphisddeb

[Kathy]

My suggestion would be to wash them real well...hot water, detergent and soda ash...to get out as much or all of the excess rit dye. The next step is to swear off RIT dye for the rest of your life, its pretty useless and only creates frustration and disappointment (unless you are dyeing fold over elastic...FOE).

Then, yes, re-dye your shirt using Procion MX dyes. Check out the Tie-dye Wiki here. You can also check around the forum here and pick up some juicy tidbits on dyeing.

 
Kathy

[memphisddeb]

Hi

I went to walmart last nite and bought green rit and the pool chemical. Soaked them in pool chemical last nite 30 mins.  Then boiled the green on the stove and dunked them into it and right out.  Let them sit overnite rubberbanded in a trash bag!. They came out great!! Now I want to do more of these!! It was so much fun!

Thanks
Memphisddeb

[steve]

You will be much happier if you use fiber-reactive dyes. The RIT dyed items will fade quickly each time you wash them. You can generally find tie-dye kits that have fiber reactive dyes--but that is an expensive way to go! You're best off clicking Kathy's link for fiber reactive dyes and buying a few 2 ounce containers of their MX dyes.

MX dyes are wash-fast because fiber reactive dyes actually chemically bond to the cellulose fibers of the fabric. They are also safer to use because they do not require boiling hot water.

I'm glad you have the bug though! Tie-dyeing is a blast. If you are having fun now--you will enjoy it even more with the fiber reactive dyes!

Steve

[pburch]

I went to walmart last nite and bought green rit and the pool chemical. Soaked them in pool chemical last nite 30 mins.  Then boiled the green on the stove and dunked them into it and right out.  Let them sit overnite rubberbanded in a trash bag!.

Pool chemicals do nothing for all-purpose dye such as Rit®. If you don't want your Rit® dye to wash out in the laundry, you must mail-order some Retayne or a similar product and apply it. Retayne is a commercial dye fixative that makes all-purpose dye more washfast.

As everyone else says, Procion MX dyes are much easier to use, prettier, brighter, and far longer lasting than all-purpose dye. The only difficult part is that you have to buy them either by mail-order or from a crafts store that sells Jacquard brand tie-dye kits.

Paula