Is rit fabric dye okay for tie dying?

"No. Rit dye is a hot-water dye, and washes right out if applied in cool water. The best way to apply Rit dye is to tie your fabric and drop it into boiling dye for half an hour, which means you can dye with only one color at a time. However, even if you use boiling water, Rit dye will fade quickly and bleeds forever in the laundry, ruining whatever you wash it with.

The best way to tie-dye is to use a cool water tie-dye kit. The dyes in a good kit are fixed with washing soda, instead of boiling water, so they are very easy to apply. You can put them into plastic squeeze bottles and squirt each color of dye wherever you want it. The dye will react with the fiber in the fabric to make a permanent bond, so it stays bright for years, instead of just weeks like Rit dye.

You can't buy good tie-dye dyes in the grocery store, but your local crafts store, such as Joann Fabrics, Michael's, or Hobby Lobby, should carry them. There are a lot of good brands. Look for a kit made by Jacquard, Dylon, Rainbow Rock, or Tulip. (Avoid the Rit tie-dye kit!) All of these kits contain Procion type dyes. You can also buy good tie-dye dyes by mail-order at prices that are much lower, per garment, than Rit dye. If you order your dyes from a good dye supplier like Dharma Trading Company, you will have a choice of over a hundred different permanent colors!

Be sure to use only 100% cotton sheets for dyeing, unless you want pale pastels. Polyester will not take the dye, so 50% polyester sheets will dye to paler colors than 100% cotton. Avoid surface finishes such as permanent-press or stain-resistance, because they repel the dye."