I need to tie dye a shirt for a fancy dress party and was wondering if food dye was ok to use? I have test driven a shirt with food dye, but it washed out straight away, even after an hour in the dryer (to try and set the colour first) My son wanted to make one too, so I tried ironing his to set the colour and it still is not set. So is food dye no good? .. or is there a special way to set the colours? I don't really wanna go and buy a heap of expensive dyes for this. Help me please.
no, i don't think food dye works at all. i don't know what they have in australia, but i use jaquard dyes. i think you can dye alright with the spice turmeric; also i bet beets dye a nice pink. as for setting them, maybe you can just wash em out by hand and not in the machine.
http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155812&page=1&pp=10 we have a lot of discussions on dyeing here. usuing tumeric or beet will require mordants and those are usually mineral and metallic powders. Not necessarily what you want around your son as they are inhalant irritants. (I was hospitalized after breathing copper once)
