Uh Oh, the problem with RIT dye

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."

 

HOT So only use RIT for hot dip dye

COLD For cold dye in a squeeze bottle, use Dharma Trading, Jacquard, Dylon,  or Tulip Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes

Color Samples

So, as I made some dyes today, I took a few samples.

• I had to test how much black was necessary
• Tried to make Rit Blue 438 (1 TBS Royal Blue, 1 tsp Black, 1 c. water, 1/2 cup salt), but it was too dark
• Berry (2 1/2 tsp. Purple, 2 tsp. Fuschia), I think I went light on the purple
• Sunspot Orange - now I can't remember if this is straight orange or not, think it is
• lemon orange - this was supposed to be a sunspot yellow, but orange is too strong
• lemon yellow - straight
• Zen Green (3 tsp. lemon, 1/2 tsp. kelly green, 1 c. water, 1/2 cup salt) *I love this one

 the blue did not look like this, might try again

Uh Oh, the problem with RIT dye

only use Rit for hot dip dye

Rit Dyes on different fabrics

click for larger

Uh Oh, the problem with RIT dye

only use Rit for hot dip dye

Rit Colors

Here is the range of Rit colors available.  

But you can also mix them to create up to 500 colors.

http://www.ritdye.com/store/

Here's a sample of the Blue-Green shades you can mix.

Here's the Red-Violet Shades.  Visit the page to view the full range.

http://www.ritdye.com/colorit_color_formula_guide

Uh Oh, the problem with RIT dye

only use Rit for hot dip dye