Tye-dying in cold water

A. I don't believe that Rit Dye [affil links] will work well on cotton when cold. When used hot, it does not require anything to set it. There are several other options if you insist on tie-dye technique:

1) Use a "reactive" dye (Procion [affil links]), which can be used cold. However, it requires other chemicals that you must mix and pretreat the fabric with to work well. This may not be something you want to do with children.

2) Use dyes (RIT or Procion) hot by bringing in a portable microwave and using zip-lock bag method. You only need an electrical outlet nearby. This is something that YOU would do...(not the kids) when it came time to dye. They would only do the tieing part. For large pieces of fabric, this would not be the best method. But if you had access to an electrical outlet, you could bring in a hot plate and use RIT dye, so I suppose this won't be an option?

3) Use a "fabric paint" that is heat set. You still need access to an electrical outlet to iron the fabric after dyeing to set the dye. You can get a lot of information about this sort of fabric paint at Dharma Trading.

Good Luck!

A. I have done tie dying at a Girl Scout Camp many times. We dissolve the Rit Dye in hot tap water, but let it cool, and add a cup or so of white vinegar. Cold water works ok too, just the colors are not as vivid.
The fabric to be dyed should also be pre-washed. Old cotton t-shirts work the best.
If there is a problem with the children getting their hands in the vinegar water, you can put the vinegar in a spray bottle and have them spray the shirts while they hang on a clothes line.
The shirts should be washed once before wearing.
Really, the colors are not real dark, but it works fine and you don't have to worry about burns.

A. Hold the top and bottom like two ends of a rope and only dip the middle into the dye.

A. I have done a few shirts in my time and store bought dyes are just fine. Try any method you want to, as it gets better and easier with practice to get good results. Try soaking the freshly dyed clothes in a salt bath with cold water for a half hour or so, this will help wash away excess dye and prevent the dye from bleeding out in the future.

Good luck!

A. I've recently started to tie dye. I've found using Soda Ash to presoak the shirts for 20 minutes helps the color stay vibrant. We did our projects outside, because of being 1st timers. I've found that putting plastic table cloth on the table and putting 3 sheets of paper towels under the shirt helped absorb the bleeding dye. When ready to turn over, use 3 clean sheets of paper towels. After tie dying the shirt & placing it into a plastic bag for approx. 4 hours or longer made the color bolder.
We've tie dyed: t-shirts, pillow cases, towels, scrunchies, anything we can think of.....

Remember to follow the instructions from the dye package.
Have Fun!