Colorado Wholesale Dye Corp.
5682 S Cedar St
Littleton, CO 80120
303-763-9730

- Updated 2025 - For use with Grateful Dyes -

Direct Application Tie Dye Instructions:

Please read the page ‘Safety & Common Sense Dye Handling’ before starting your project.
In direct application tie dye, you make small, concentrated solutions of dye and squirt the dye onto the fabric. You do not make large buckets full of dye, and you do not dip the fabric into the dye. When using dyes and chemicals it is important to protect your work area and always wear gloves and protective clothing.

Equipment Checklist:

• 100% Cotton or other Plant Based fabric
• Dye Fixer (other names - Soda Ash, Sodium Carbonate) to soak fabric. These dyes will not be permanent without the use of Dye Fixer
• Measuring cups and measuring teaspoons
• Dyeing Surface: Disposable, absorbent work surface such as recycled cardboard
• Workspace protection: Plastic sheets covered with newspaper provide good workspace protection
• Personal protection: rubber gloves to protect skin from fixer irritation and dye staining; eye protection; dust mask. “Paint shirts” to protect clothing
• Bucket to mix fixer solution
• Pitcher or jar to mix Urea Water
• Cups, bottles, or other containers in which to mix dye colors
• Ties: Rubber bands, sinew or other string
• Pipettes, squeeze bottles, or other tools to apply dye

Step 1:Wash fabric

Wash fabric to remove any sizing or oils on the fabric that may interfere with the dye.

We include this instruction because it is a long-standing recommendation in fabric dyeing. Unless you are concerned about the fitness of the fabric or tie dye, you do not need to bother washing the fabric first.

Step 2: Prepare fixer water

In a plastic bucket, or other suitable container, mix ¾ cup dye fixer per gallon of warm water. Expand recipe as needed.

Dye fixer is a chemical called sodium carbonate or soda ash. Wear gloves to keep it from irritating your skin and avoid splashing it into eyes to avoid irritation and burning; treat it as you would a strong soap.

Step 3: Soak Fabric

 
Soak the material to be dyed in the dye fixer solution. Let the fabric soak in the solution for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the fabric is completely saturated. Wring out excess fixer water back into bucket - you can reuse the fixer water and treat several batches of fabric in the same mixture.

Step 4: Fold, Twist or Tie

Place the fixed fabric on dyeing surface and fold, twist or tie it into the pattern you want to dye. Design tips & instructions can be found on our Tie Dye Patterns tab, or click here.  

Step 5: Prepare Urea Water for dyes

Urea Water is used to mix dye powders with to make your liquid dye colors. Ludigol & Water Softener are both optional ingredients in Urea water. The complete recipe for Urea Water is ¾ cup urea, 2 teaspoons Ludigol and 1 teaspoon Water Softener for every 1 quart of warm water. If you do not have Urea, or either of the other chemicals, mix the dye powders with plain warm water. Expand recipe as needed. 

Step 6: Mix dye colors
In this stage, you are not making big buckets full of dye. You will be mixing dye powder with Urea Water or plain warm water by the cup, as needed in small, concentrated batches.
You can control the shade of the colors you mix by using different quantities of dye in your concentrated dye solutions. For bright, strong colors (such as the colors in the color chart of this packet) mix 4 to 6 teaspoons dye powder per cup of Urea Water or plain water. For medium shades, mix 2 to 4 teaspoons dye powder per cup of Urea water or plain water. For light or pastel shades, mix ¼ to 2 teaspoons of dye powder per cup Urea water or plain water. Stir dye well to dissolve dye powder completely.

Step 7: Apply the dye

With fabric on dyeing surface, apply dye to fabric by squirting dye onto the fabric with a pipette, squeeze bottle, or other dye application tool. Most dyeing patterns call for saturating the fabric with dye. The mistake most beginners make is to not squirt enough dye into the fabric. Apply all the different colors at this time. Flip the fabric over and apply dye to both sides of the fabric, saturating each side of the fabric.

Step 8: After you dye  

After you are done dyeing the fabric, leave it alone. Do not untie it. Do not hang it up to dry. Leave it tied up and leave it alone. For complete dye fixation, allow the fabric to sit undisturbed overnight.  The longer you can let the fabric sit, the easier it will be to wash out loose dye from the fabric. The length of time you let the fabric sit is not overly critical. If you are in a hurry, let the fabric sit for as long as your deadline will allow.

Step 9: Wash loose dye from fabric

Wear gloves while handling the fabric, as the dye will still stain your hands until after it has been washed. Place fabric under cold running water and rinse until no more dye comes out of the fabric. We always say “rinse until you’re sick of rinsing.” A lot of loose dye will wash out of the fabric. This is normal. The wash water may turn black or brown, and the fabric may look discolored with ’dirty’ dye. This is normal as well. During the process of handwashing the fabric in the sink, some people like to include sudsy dish soap, so the sudds can assist in lifting loose dye particles up and away from the fabric. After rinsing, move fabric to washing machine. You may wash several pieces at once, up to a full load, even if washing different colors. Front loading or low water washing machines tend to not wash out loose dye well, because they do not have enough water to dilute the dye and carry it away. Spend extra time rinsing by hand if using a front loading or low water machine.

Use regular laundry soap in amounts for a normal wash load. Wash fabric as many times as you need to until you've washed out all the loose dye and the water in the rinse cycle is clear.

You are finished! Dry as you would any normal fabric and enjoy!