How do you dye a cotton shirt??

[Pleater]

There is also a substance used to remove dyes - at least it was sold by Dylon for that purpose, as a pre dye process, so that items could be dyed lighter than originally - it also removed the evidence of bad dyeing, stains from splashes and quite a few everyday stains.

It also makes a memorable story - way back in my hippy daysI introduced someone to the joys of dyeing garments and they had just made a large pot of dye remover when their boyfriend came in with just about every item of clothing he posessed and thinking she was doing some washing, tossed them in.

Personally, I thought it was an improvement.

If it is still available it is probably going to help achieve an even result - it reads as though the shirt has picked up loose dye when in the wash.

You do need to have a large container for good dyeing, so that the dye can reach all parts of the item and not be absorbed by the parts which happen to be outermost in the ball of fabric.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[Dall_Piobaire]

It also makes a memorable story - way back in my hippy days....
Anne the Pleater :ootd:

I had to read this again, thought you had said happy days! Then I realized hippie days and happy days are somewhat synonymous aren't they!

[Tony Miles]

It also makes a memorable story - way back in my hippy daysI introduced someone to the joys of dyeing garments and they had just made a large pot of dye remover when their boyfriend came in with just about every item of clothing he posessed and thinking she was doing some washing, tossed them in.

Personally, I thought it was an improvement.

That's funny - that is so something I'd do - I wonder if that dye remover could remove the grunge. then i could just buy a red shirt and keep the grungy one

[vorpallemur]

That's funny - that is so something I'd do - I wonder if that dye remover could remove the grunge. then i could just buy a red shirt and keep the grungy one

Soak it in oxygen bleach.

[ShaunMaxwell]

I believe RIT makes a color remover that you might want to try before dyeing your shirt... Might help with those stains and it's easily obtainable. It'll be with the RIT dye at you grocery store. I think it comes in a white package.

You can run the color remover in with the shirt in your washing machine.

[mrtackytn]

I have dyed several shirts using the Rit method, but it does help if the fabric is one
that will not shrink in hot water. Get the water to almost a boil, then slowly submerge
the shirt (item) and turn it over every 5-8 minutes, for about 30-40 minutes. Rinse
thoroughly, let cool, machine wash in cold water. Please don't forget latex or vinyl
gloves !!

[Mrs. Farlander]

I have done a great deal of dying for the theater, for personal use, and tie-dying. My experience tells me that in your case:

You must get your shirt completely clean before you begin dying if you want a "level" dye, i.e. a solid color and not splotchy. I highly recommend the use of Synthrapol (or a Synthrapol substitute from Dharma Trading Company) for this.

Do not use Rit if you want to be able to predict what color you'll end up with, and you want a nice, dark color. Rit is a "union" dye, designed to dye all kinds of fibers. It doesn't dye any of them well. If you're stuck using Rit, you'll want to use a lot of salt with it. The salt should be non-iodized. Even so, good luck getting what you want.

In my experience your best bet for dying cotton (or silk, for that matter) is Procion fiber reactive dye http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/en...lnav=dyes.html. You can get (more or less) the shade you want and it will be color-fast.

Check out http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/en...echniques.html Your best bet will be the "Hand dyeing in a tub" method for a single shirt. If you have hard water at home you may want to use just a little water softener with your dye bath.

Over the years I've found the folks at Dharma Trading to be very helpful, so give them a call if you have questions. They also have lots of neat stuff, so you might want to check out their on-line catalog.

[Carolina Kiltman]

You might try a bridal shop. They have to dye things to match quite often. If you insist on doing it yourself, be sure to follow the instructions to the letter. I'll add that whenever I dye muslin for one of my stage sets, I usually add some salt to the water. I was told a long time ago that you must have salted water (not much, a teaspoon for a large pot) to make the cotton fibers open up to take the dye. YMMV.

Absoutely right. The salt is a "mordant" which increased the "bite" of the dye. Different mordants were used for different vegetable dyes (I forget which). Rit is good in that it is consistent in its colours. Best do so with bits of all cotton T-Shirts for a trial first, though.

I might add, up to a point, the longer the materiel is immersed in the dye, the darker the shade.

Good luck.

[Farlander]

Hmmm, this may be a bit more technical than anyone really cares, but sodium chloride (table salt) is rarely a 'mordant'.

So, what is a mordant you ask? From the Compendium of Chemical Terminology by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC),
(see http://goldbook.iupac.org/M04029.html)
A mordant is a "Substance that fixes a dyestuff in or on a material by combining with the dye to form an insoluble compound...". That is, a mordant does a chemical reaction with the dye and forms a new compound with the dye that does not stay dissolved in solution (the solution likely being water). Most all mordants are either acid or alkaline like tannic acid or alum.

As for RIT dye specifically, salt does not react with the dye, so technically, it is not a mordant.

Be that as it may, table salt is still quite useful. Why you may ask? Table salt more readily goes into solution (dissolves in water that is) than the RIT dye. As such, it pushes the RIT dye out of solution. With the dye out of solution, it is then available to attach itself to something else (like a cotton shirt).

[Pleater]

The salt also raises the temperature of the boiling water - that is the temperature at which the water boils.

Reactions go faster at higher temperatures.

Annt the Pleater :ootd: