Step by Step Instructions:

Pre-Wash your fabric. This is a very important step. Use HOT water and 1/4 cup Dharma Dyer's Detergent (#DDD) per machine load. This will remove any dirt, grease, or other gunk.  Enzyme detergents are used to remove starch but if you can't get any enzyme soap then adding 1/4 cup soda ash along with your detergent will help. Fabrics treated with permanent press, conditioners, sizing or water proofing, etc are not recommended. This is a very important step. Pre-washing really can make all the difference. We even recommend always pre-washing so called PFD (Prepared For Dyeing) fabrics, as you never know "where they've been". Even fingerprints can cause blotchy dyeing. 

Dissolve your dye. Paste up the Fiber Reactive Dye with some warm water, the same way you paste up flour for gravy - pasting is a very important step for getting dye dissolved properly. Next, add about a cup of warm water to the dye paste to make a well dissolved slurry. Finally, add to the tub of warm water and stir to mix evenly. (for dye measurements click here)

Note: Some colors can be harder to dissolve than others, especially some reds (including mixes with red in them, like purples, blacks, browns, etc.), as well as some of the darker yellows. For these difficult colors you can use approx. 1 TBS of Urea dissolved in 1 cup warm water to make your dye slurry as above. Urea is an excellent dissolving agent. To prevent "freckles" of undissolved red, you can even use some thin fabric like 5 or 8mm Habotai silk or something comparable in a funnel over your dye bath and filter your well thinned and dissolved dye. Re-paste up any dye caught in the filter so you don't end up skewing the final color.

Dissolve the Non-Iodized Salt completely in the required amount of lukewarm (about 105ºF) tap water and add to tub. You can use our finely powdered Dyer's Salt to skip this annoying dissolving part - it dissolves almost instantly! For Turquoise and mixes that contain Turquoise (marked with a (T) next to their name), if you sub Glauber's salt for regular, the Turquoise will strike brighter and deeper! Add Calsolene Oil (Optional - breaks surface tension for more even, less streaky results; highly recommended for large loads).

Add the fabric. Stir gently, but frequently, for 20 minutes. In a washing machine, set it to agitate. Don't let it drain out! - with most machines you have to keep setting it back to the beginning of the cycle. Use a timer so you don't loose track - nothing worse than losing your dye down the drain before you're done! The washing machine is recommended for large loads, when you are too busy to stir frequently enough, or for the most even results.

Add the Soda Ash. Dissolve Soda Ash with hot tap water and add slowly, over about 15 minutes, to the dye bath while stirring. Don't pour it directly onto the fabric (concentrated Soda Ash solution touching the fabric can leave darker splotches!) When using a washing machine, turn it off and use something to move the fabric over to one side while adding the Soda Ash in to the otherside. Mix the soda ash solution into the water before stirring the fabric around or turning the machine back on. Stir frequently or set machine to agitate again - 30 min. for light colors, 1 hour for deep colors.

Rinse & wash out excess dye. Use cool running water until it runs almost clear, or put it through a couple of rinse cycles in the washing machine. Then wash in HOT water using Kieralon or Professional Textile Detergent to finish washing out the excess dye. With some of the darker colors, like blacks or reds, a second wash may be necessary. Additionally, using Milsoft (a concentrated, professional fabric softener) according to its directions will restore a luxurious softness to fabrics that have been dyed.

Measurements / FAQs:

How much dye do I need?

The easy way: If you don't have a precise scale, and don't care about color matching or repeatability: for medium shades of most colors add 1 tablespoon of dye per 1 lb. of fabric (3 gallons of water), or 1/2 cup (two 2oz jars) of dye per 8 lb. washing machine load (20 gallons of water). Please note: Colors marked with * on the color card or jar label require double those amounts, and those marked with ** require 4x those amounts to get the depth of shade on our color card.

For more exact shades: check out our Procion Dye Yields & Estimator page. Weigh your dye with a small scale to get the correct amount, a percent of the dry weight of the fabric you are dyeing. Dye densities can vary from lot to lot, so weighing is much more accurate than measuring out tablespoons and cups. For repeatable shades, keep careful records of the proportions you end up using and keep track of any "tweaking" you do. Also, try to get enough of one dye lot for your whole project (hugely important as dye lots vary)!

For lighter shades: reduce the amount of dye, and for even deeper shades, increase the dye.

If color is really critical, always do a test before embarking on your main project! Keep in mind that colors can vary based on many different variables, and the color charts are only a guide (color chart printings and computer monitors aren't always accurate either). Colors can vary depending on fabric, water (ph, hardness, etc), dyelot, and many other things.

How much Soda Ash and Salt do I need?

The amount of Non-Iodized Salt and Soda Ash are a function of the amount of water used. For each pound of dry fabric you will need about 3 gallons of warm water. The water must cover the fabric with enough room for thorough, tangle-free stirring; otherwise you get uneven dyeing and streaks. For each 1 1/2 gallons of water use 1 1/2 cup of Non-Iodized Salt and 1/6 cup of Soda Ash. For black dyes, use 2X the amount of Non-Iodized Salt.

What should I expect the dye to do?

Please read more about dye expectations here.