Im tie dying a shirt.?

Question

Okay i bought the tulip tie dye kit that makes 20 shirts.

and i notcied that there was no soda ash in it so i bought a pack.

do i really need the soda ash? and since i have soda ash do is till need to wash it before i dye the shirts?

Answer 1

I don't know this kit, so I can't say for sure... but fiber reactive dyes like Procion MX need soda ash/sodium carbonate/washing soda to cause the dye to react with the fabric.  There may be washing soda in the dye packets already.  Or these may not be fiber reactive dyes.

There are other methods of tie-dyeing; some use a very thin fabric paints -- that method, also, would not require washing soda.

(and when you're done tie-dyeing shirts, see if your library has a book on "shibori", which is the Japanese version of tie-dye:

Here are a couple of examples of modern shibori:

http://shiborigirl.wordpress.com/

http://entwinements.com/blog-mt3/Set.fin...

and some traditional Japanese style examples:

http://gallery.passion4art.com/members/c...

http://japanese-embroidery.blogspot.com/... )

Answer 2

It's not the 80's anymore