I plan to do some more experiments with the Color Stay Dye Fixative. It might make a more difference on colors that aren't navy, so I plan to try this again while handpainting some cotton yarns with multiple Rit liquid colors. To support ChemKnits on a more personal level, check out our Patreon: www.patreon.com/ChemKnits
Your method is flawed. The dye starts coming out after a dozen or so washes. I have experience with this. I have two items dyed at the same time with the same color in the same pot. One was worn a lot more than the other and thus washed more. A year has gone by and it's much lighter in shade. You can also google search "rit dye fade" after one year" and find someone with red pants that eventually turned pink. I'd like to know if this dye fixative would prevent that or not.
I have heard from others that this makes more of a difference with reds and pinks. I plan to redo this with some red shirts in the near future. (I just bought the red dye this week.) I have washed the navy shirts from this video 6+ times and the color is very similar. I think on big mistake I made was that I rinsed the shirts a bit before the fixitive. I think I should have done the fixitive before unwrapping the shirts.
Thanks for the response! So neither look more or less faded than the other? I'm not all that worried about bleeding. I'm mostly worried about fading. I'm wondering if putting this treatment on some of my clothing that's starting to fade will help save it from fading further.
I’m going to be purchasing from Walmart the Men’s Fruit Of The Loom Fleece White Sweatpants (Elastic Ankles) and Sweatshirts and dying them Purple, Lemon Yellow since RIT doesn’t make or have the knowledge of how to make regular Yellow, and True Green so I can have those 3 colors since Fruit Of The Loom doesn’t make them in those colors. Now how long does it take to get through all the stages of doing these dye jobs????
I use rit a lot, and I can say that the fixative if used after dying but before rinsing greatly reduces the amount of rinsing needed. This means fixative is actually doing what it says it does, fixing the dye to the fabric. This means I spend a lot less time and water rinsing. The key is to not rinse it before using the fixative.
Thanks for the tip. Gunna try. I always have used after it rinses in my washer and seemed ok, but before the rinse cycle i will poor in, hoping this time will seal the black darker*
Im not sure if the question is ever anwsered in this video but after my own experience with the dye, it fades 1/2 shade lighter(or not at all depending on the matietal blend cotton tends to get the best results) regaurdless if you use the fixative or not. The longivity isnt affected either, save the 4 bucks for an icecream day.
I am dying my sofa slip covers (chocolate brown) and didn't know if the fixative until I saw some online instructions. I found your video and appreciated your experiment and conclusions. Even more I like that your time stamped your steps. I wish more videos were up to your standards.
Thank you! I always try to time stamp steps to make the videos a handy reference. RUclips recently added those stamps to the progress bar which is extra useful.
Soaking natural fibers in a vinegar solution (1 cup white vinegar to 2 gallons of cool water) acts as a fixative, too. You have to leave it to soak over night. Then I rinse it using a liquid fabric softener to remove the vinegar smell. I've done that several times and I'm very pleased with the results.
You don't have to put the fabric softener in it, the vinegar smell completely disappears after the item is dry, it only smells vinegary while the item is wet. Vinegar is the best for getting clothes to smell neutral.
Hello Iv just read ur comment about the white vinegar and thank u very much as u saved me as i bought the ritdye but not the fixer but now u told us we can do the same with vinegar Can u please tell me do i rinse dye out first or do i dye t shirt then leave that up to 24 hours then put the vinegar and water also how long do i leave it in the vinger? Thanks again 4 ur help❤❤❤
i've been told that soaking clothes (likely mostly cotton tshirts) in vinegar will also help permanent marker writing keep from washing out if you had someone sign a shirt with a Sharpie or something similar.
You're right. I think I was nervous because I wanted to preserve some of the pale spaces. I probably should have soaked the shirt in the dye fixative before removing the rubber bands even. I plan to redo this with some handpainted yarns with multiple colors. I think the fixative makes more of a difference on colors other than navy.
I dyed some jeans using the dye only and they bled in the wash everytime I washed them. After about 5 or 6 washes they were pretty much back to where they were. I saw on another video to add a cup of salt and some dish soap to the dye before dying blue jeans. Haven't tried it but I will next time.
I agree with you, I've also done it both ways and I have found for me it's definitely not worth using the additive..over the long haul after washing it doesn't last any longer..
I still have to try this with red and pink- some comments say that it made a bigger difference there. SInce I still have the fixative, I've been using it on cotton, but I'm not sure I'd buy more once I run out.
When I applied the additive according to the directions and mind you this is only my opinion, however in my opinion it still didn't last any longer..thanks!
Thank you for this very informative experiment. I bought some RIT powder dyes just to have fun with some cheap white t-shirts & it was annoying to learn that you have to buy one more thing *and* go thru an extra step. I'll give it a miss and if the shirt fades, it fades. You also explained the dying process very clearly. Good job.
I think I should have applied the fixative before any rinsing, I just wasn't sure how to do that with the shirts wrapped up. I've used this fixative on cotton since I had since then. Some other commenters said it made a bigger difference on some of the reds or pinks I think.
Thanks for you information so after tye dye i soak it over night unthis solution then fabric softener ? Can i soak the t shirt first in soda ash then add the prepared rit dye? Or what thanks
I appreciate this, but how accurate is this test? If the directions say to heat with fix on the stove continuously for 20 minutes and you didn’t do that… then maybe following the directions is significant for having the fix actually work.
Oh this isn't a perfect test at all. One instruction from their website also suggested spraying it on, maybe. There were aspects I didn't think through. I will add i"ve continued to use this bottle on cotton dyed with Rit since I already have it. I really should do an update to this video...
I love that you got that cool tie-dye pattern with this experiment but, I do have the feeling that there was bleeding from the size 2 shirt and yarn (which wasn't treated with fixidant) that transferred in the washer to the size 4 shirt, so, I do agree with you that using the fixidant would be a personal preference and I'm not sure if I'd necessarily use it when dyeing the cotton yarn, although I would wash it until the water was completely clear! Thanks again for another wonderful experiment! Happy Dyeing! The boys are going to look so cute in them!
I 100% agree. I probably should have washed the two shirts in the machine separately. And with yarn, I would absolutely wash until the water runs clear. The fixative *could* be a time saver, but it is nice to know that the colors stay very well without it, too.
Thank you kindly, years after the fact. :) I'm ready to dye a sweater and just read the directions that say I need the fixative. No one delivers quickly and I was bummed that I have to wait for the fixative. I'm so glad I found this video. Now I know I don't really need it, at least not urgently. I may order it anyway and use it later before I have to wash the sweater again. I hope it will still work then, for just in case. But I'm confident now that I can go ahead with the dying.
Since I HAVE the fixative I've been using it... this video may not be the best example, but both of the shirts did wear very similarly back when my kids fit in them. I have heard it makes more of an impact on red/pink dyes.
Thx for making this. I do wish though that you had followed the instructions to a T for a comparison since you really can't tell if it's because the fixative is ineffective or because you hadn't followed the instructions.
I realized that part way though. I've been meaning to do this again to follow the instructions better. And I've heard it makes more of a difference with red/pink than with navy.
I know this was done 2 years ago now, but shouldn’t the dye fixed pieces have been washed separately from the non fixed pieces? Because no matter what the shirt still had white spaces on the fixed piece, once it goes in the wash with something else that bleeds color those white patches are going to absorb whatever is floating around in the water. If you washed it separately you might have a better understanding of how the fixative preserves the color. But it was nice to see how well it works in the rinse after you dyed. With cotton strings that I dye I notice a difference over time of the color not fading when the fixative is used versus not.
I probably should have washed them separately for sure, washing them together did ruin it a bit. If/when I redo this I plan to do a few things differently! (Plus look at a red/pink where I've heard the fixative makes more of a difference.)
I've gotten bleach on my 100% cotton work pants and I've dyed then twice and it still washes off. I'm going to try the color stay. I've heard to use salt too.
What a great experiment! Who knows if it would have made a difference putting the dyed items destined for the fixative directly into the fixative bath right after the dying process. I'd dare say that the difference would be insignificant. Thanks for all the time you have given to conduct this experiment. It sure helped me😊
@Cindy Olson - LOL...did you actually say that following the DIRECTIONS and putting the dyed item into the fixative right after the dying process would make an insignificant difference? LMAO! You see, the purpose of the fixative is to PREVENT the dye from leaving the fabric. Saying that step is insignificant is like saying that heating water to cook pasta noodles is insignificant. SURE, you can fix noodles in water without heating the water, BUT that CHANGES the end result!
@@Reality_TV I must have miscommunicated something in my comment as I personally never miss the fixative step. I must have referenced something else in the video. Poor communication on my part.
Thanks for this experiment, I was wondering... I bought the color stay and I will definitely use it. I wonder if you had left them both rolled up and elastic-ed, if the colours wouldn't bleed so much. The instructions I watched on the RIT channel said to use it immediately after colouring and the demonstrator did not take it apart. I also think the colour loss will get more noticeable after it's washed many times. However, the colour in cotton and does fade over time.
Kathy, I wonder that, too! Since I have the color fixative I've used it on other cotton projects (it didn't seem to HURT anything.) I think the letting it soak on a project was confusing for me to figure out with also doing a rinse... so spraying it before taking the rubber bands off may have helped.
TBH after this test I'm still unsure about the use of fixative. I haven't dyed denim specifically but since it is mostly cotton I might err on the side of using it. I've heard it makes more of a difference on red/pink which I still have to test out.
I'm not sure if soda ash helps the dye type in Rit. (Ultimately soda ash + commercial fiber reactive dyes is a much better option for tie dyeing than rit, in my opinion.)
Anyone compare the RIT results to "Thoroughly clean a large mixing bowl or cleaning bucket, and then fill it with one gallon of fresh, clean water. Add one-fourth cup table salt and one cup vinegar. The vinegar and salt work together to naturally lock the color into the fabric. Feb 16, 2020"
I still use it when I'm dyeing cotton (since I have it!) but I never noticed a huge difference in this shirt test. Others have said it helps more with reds and pinks to keep their hues.
It's funny. Since I have it I'm still using it. I want to repeat this experiment with some reds and pinks because I've heard it can make more of a difference there. Also, I shouldn't rinse out the shirts first before putting them in the fixative. (Maybe I should have sprayed it on in this case.)
me too i live certified organic wherever possible and even then you cannot trust because certain chemicals ae allowed, and some are allowed in small amounts, which can then become cumulative in the body.
I am shocked that someone would use the BOIL METHOD on ""COTTON" FABRIC & YARNS because of the shrinkage. White Vinegar also sets colour after dying. I did it a lot, when dying fabric for quilting.
Interesting, I've never tried using vinegar on cotton fabrics, but I am very intrigued by that thought. I'm still not completely sure what is in this fixative. Thank you for the comment on shrinkage. I now want to try a shrink test on some cotton yarns that I hand dye.
@@shadowshifter5348 yea it sets it afterwards... im in group for swimsuits & all the girls say this about changing the colors of the specific brand bikinis.. rit synthetic dye is used for swimsuit material and other man made. The reg rit is for cotton & natural materials
That is absolutely one purpose. It is also supposed to help preserve the hue of the original color. I still need to repeat this project using something with multiple different colors. I think it makes a bigger difference on red/pink than on navy.
I really wish you would’ve washed the shirts separately. The one without the fixative probably bled onto the one with the fixative. Now we’ll never know.
That is very possible. There are a few things about this experiment that i want to re-do. I've still been using the fixative with cotton yarn since I have it around anyway.
I highly doubt it. I rinsed out most of the color fix by hand before it went into the washing machine. You could also see in the untreated shirt that the color stopped bleeding pretty quickly with hand washing, there was VERY little color coming out when I decided to take it to the washing machine (but obviously still a tiny amount left.) More dye DID bleed out from the soak step with the untreated... but even then the overall color didn't decrease.
Thank you for doing this experiment. I wondered if you were bothered by not knowing what was in the dye fixative. I don’t think I would purchase it without knowing what it was in the bottle.
I was definitely annoyed to not know what it is. I've heard from others that it makes more of a difference with the red and pink dyes. I still need to redo this project with those.
It will most likely not stick/color as vibrantly. It seems to bond differently than the natural fiber dyes. More like a coating. But most of the bleed will wash out on the first few washes. The results on cotton are more muted. It is an interesting effect though. So if you don't mind unpredictable results, you can try it.
I'm dyeing an old cream color cotton sweater brown, because it has discoloration. I'd like for it to fade a bit over time, so that isn't a concern- however I want to make sure the the color won't rub-off on my expensive coats, upholstery, skin, etc. So, I need the colorstay or not so much?? Is the colorstay just to keep the garment from fading in the wash, or is it necessary to set the color from transferring when worn?
This is a great question. I haven't seen any staining or color transfer from when the boys are wearing these shirts. I think that as long as you wash your sweater multiple times then it should be fine. (I would throw a color catcher in the wash to see how much bleeding is happening after each step.) I don't think the color fixer will hurt the process at all, and I've been using it on cotton as long as I have it around. I need to repeat this experiment with reds and pinks, I've heard it makes more of a difference there with keeping the real hue of the color.
What about a large military overcoat that is military green? I want to take out the liner. Use the color remover and dye it charcoal black! This item even without the liner is several pounds in weight. It is a fmr Soviet Military winter overcoat I'm trying to make a summer overcoat out of and dye it charcoal black. (To remove the military look and make it look like a duster.
I think it depends a lot on what the coat is made out of. Is it cotton? Wool? Can you put it through the washing machine? With an item as large as a coat, a lot of washing machine techniques would work well (assuming the piece is washable) so you can get even coverage of the color. As for the color stay - I think you could use it in a vat (fill a sink with warm water for example) and then dye the piece in there. Good luck!
I wonder if it contains soda ash, which fixes reactive dyes onto natural fibers like cotton. Since Rit is a multi-purpose dye and contains multiple classes of dye, the fixative probably has fixatives for those same dye classes. So maybe soda ash and a vinegar equivalent? Not sure if that’s chemically possible.
Glad I could help! I"ve heard (from comments here) that the fixative makes more of a difference with reds and pinks... this wasn't the best controlled experiment for sure.
I plan to redo this with some reds and pinks sometime since I read that it can make some more difference there. Since I have it, I've been using it. ;)
for all you DIY guys out there just use a clear acrylic or lacquer spray paint as a fixative. Choose a matte, semi-gloss or gloss finish...works for me (just about every time almost)
this has something in it besides salt - since salt is already an ingredient for the rit dyes (so that was already in the dyebath.) Of course, there are many chemicals that are classified as salts (not just table salt) so it could have something else in there.
I think all dye will fade over time. I think only we will know with normal life long use of the items. I did buy the fixative but It is for a blanket that we all know we don't wash our blankets as often as our clothes so I might not use it for the blanket and save it for t-shirts and socks that I might use more often and was with hot temp waters.
That's interesting. I think the pink migrating makes sense because reds are notorious for not being wash fast. To bad there isn't any way to tell if both t-shirts were bleeding or just the one. Given that the larger t-shirt wasn't pink after soaking, I would bet it was run off from the 2nd shirt. There is also the possibility that only the red color in the dye is bleeding in which case you may not notice a difference in the rest of the shirt since that is the minority color in the recipe. Anyway, I hope that you come back to this in a couple months with an update on how the t-shirts are doing. Perhaps it will take more than 3 washes to see a noticeable difference.
Next time you might get a better results if you have the same size shirts and not wash then in the same batch at first. I have a bunch of new shop rags that are red and talk about transfer the color. I put things in the load I want to turn reddish/pink. If I recall it takes about 5 wash cycles to set the color so it does not transfer without any color fixing agent. Thanks for sharing this with us.
You’re not suppose to rinse right away. You should have a large pale or plastic box with hot water with the fixative. Place your item in there for 20 mis, stir them rinse. Watch the 3 min video on Rit.
I absolutely struggled with what to do in real time. I often try to do things the first time with just the bottle to see how it turns out, and this was a flop for many reasons. I need to try it again. (Since I have the fixative I use it on cotton, but I haven't observed much)
You didn't follow the product's directions; you are not supposed to wash or rinse before putting the fabric into the fixative; you are supposed to go straight from the dye to the fixative.
You can make your own soda ash all it is is baking soda buy a box of baking soda put it in an oven-safe pan turn your oven to about 375 and bake it and you have soda ash
@Perlet Menzies I'd say about 350 Fahrenheit for about an hour or so. just look it up here on YT how to make soda ash for tie dye I'm sure there's something here on YT. it's been a very long time ago for me
200 degrees for about 1.5 hours does the trick. If you are baking a large quantity, increase the time by 1/2 hour and stir the soda gently abut 1/2 way into the baking time.
After all that work, you then went ahead and washed them together. WHY would you do that? Given the very real probability that in doing so, it would introduce a variable that could (and likely may have), skewed your final results. Even when washing in cold water. Not trying to be a troll, or be mean. I’m just dumbfounded, that’s all.
I 100% messed this up. I got stuck in my brain about how to wash them the same way for the same amount of time. I've learned from other commenters that the color stay makes a bigger difference on reds/pinks than navy.
I'm about 7 washes in with these shirts and they are still looking very similar. I have plans to redo this project using some red and pink dyes along with the navy. I've had some people tell me that without the color stay fixitive the red shifted hues completely.
You didn’t follow the directions with regard to the fixative. If you are using the Rit all purpose dye,you are to let the fabric sit for 30 minutes after you take it out of the dye, then put the fixative on it, cover it in cling wrap and let that sit in the hot sun for 2 to 3 hours and then let it cool off and then rinse it. Otherwise, you’re just rinsing out the die
I know I did a much less than perfect job with this first round. I've used it on cotton since then but am still not sure if it has made a difference. I hope to do another experiment (with better planning so I can actually follow the protocol better) sometime soon.
you get better results if you dont wash them or hand wash them and then air dry them they’ll be way better trust me I’ve done it like a billion times on my black jeans
You don't need to buy the color stay on dye fixative I dye jeans all the time and they never had this in the past also I'm a teacher we tie dye t-shirt in the summer all the time and the color stayed on after the parents took them and wash them over and over it would be a waste of money to buy it
Denell L. Bennett Survivor/Warrior I think it is the white balance. The boys are actually wearing the shirts today and it is a true navy. The white has a pink cast, though. :)
I have not yet. I know I need to try this side by side using some red and pink rit dyes. I hope to do some more soon, but the list of videos to film keeps growing and this one has been pushed back. I've used this fixative from some other dyeing projects because I have it on hand... but I haven't tried side by side again yet.
Not only did you not follow directions, but you tied them and ruined the experiment. You needed to let them fully soak the colors in order to see the differences.
I plan to do some more experiments with the Color Stay Dye Fixative. It might make a more difference on colors that aren't navy, so I plan to try this again while handpainting some cotton yarns with multiple Rit liquid colors.
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Your method is flawed. The dye starts coming out after a dozen or so washes. I have experience with this. I have two items dyed at the same time with the same color in the same pot. One was worn a lot more than the other and thus washed more. A year has gone by and it's much lighter in shade. You can also google search "rit dye fade" after one year" and find someone with red pants that eventually turned pink. I'd like to know if this dye fixative would prevent that or not.
I have heard from others that this makes more of a difference with reds and pinks. I plan to redo this with some red shirts in the near future. (I just bought the red dye this week.) I have washed the navy shirts from this video 6+ times and the color is very similar.
I think on big mistake I made was that I rinsed the shirts a bit before the fixitive. I think I should have done the fixitive before unwrapping the shirts.
Thanks for the response! So neither look more or less faded than the other?
I'm not all that worried about bleeding. I'm mostly worried about fading. I'm wondering if putting this treatment on some of my clothing that's starting to fade will help save it from fading further.
Teru Mikami maybe I'll dye three shirts with the red test so I can look at fading overall. :). Thanks for inspiring that control!
I’m going to be purchasing from Walmart the Men’s Fruit Of The Loom Fleece White Sweatpants (Elastic Ankles) and Sweatshirts and dying them Purple, Lemon Yellow since RIT doesn’t make or have the knowledge of how to make regular Yellow, and True Green so I can have those 3 colors since Fruit Of The Loom doesn’t make them in those colors. Now how long does it take to get through all the stages of doing these dye jobs????
I use rit a lot, and I can say that the fixative if used after dying but before rinsing greatly reduces the amount of rinsing needed. This means fixative is actually doing what it says it does, fixing the dye to the fabric. This means I spend a lot less time and water rinsing. The key is to not rinse it before using the fixative.
Thanks for the tip. Gunna try. I always have used after it rinses in my washer and seemed ok, but before the rinse cycle i will poor in, hoping this time will seal the black darker*
THIS. 🙌 I've searched high and low for someone to give me clarification on this part of the process. Thank you
Im not sure if the question is ever anwsered in this video but after my own experience with the dye, it fades 1/2 shade lighter(or not at all depending on the matietal blend cotton tends to get the best results) regaurdless if you use the fixative or not. The longivity isnt affected either, save the 4 bucks for an icecream day.
Woo Hoo! :)
Thank you for answering the question for us!
I am dying my sofa slip covers (chocolate brown) and didn't know if the fixative until I saw some online instructions. I found your video and appreciated your experiment and conclusions. Even more I like that your time stamped your steps. I wish more videos were up to your standards.
Thank you! I always try to time stamp steps to make the videos a handy reference. RUclips recently added those stamps to the progress bar which is extra useful.
Soaking natural fibers in a vinegar solution (1 cup white vinegar to 2 gallons of cool water) acts as a fixative, too. You have to leave it to soak over night. Then I rinse it using a liquid fabric softener to remove the vinegar smell. I've done that several times and I'm very pleased with the results.
Interesting! I use vinegar on wool based fibers all the time, but I haven't tried it with cotton. Thank you!
You don't have to put the fabric softener in it, the vinegar smell completely disappears after the item is dry, it only smells vinegary while the item is wet. Vinegar is the best for getting clothes to smell neutral.
Hello
Iv just read ur comment about the white vinegar and thank u very much as u saved me as i bought the ritdye but not the fixer but now u told us we can do the same with vinegar
Can u please tell me do i rinse dye out first or do i dye t shirt then leave that up to 24 hours then put the vinegar and water also how long do i leave it in the vinger?
Thanks again 4 ur help❤❤❤
i've been told that soaking clothes (likely mostly cotton tshirts) in vinegar will also help permanent marker writing keep from washing out if you had someone sign a shirt with a Sharpie or something similar.
Really I'ma try that
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I have used this product. And I was very satisfied with the results. Blue stopped bleeding immediately upon dipping in product.
I love your presentation. You explain very well step by step. Thank you.
You are so welcome!
Thank you for you thorough and detailed review. This takes much time and patience and saves us all money!
You weren't supposed to rinse the fabric after they dye bath and before the fixative, It should go right from the dye bath to fixative and then rinsed
You're right. I think I was nervous because I wanted to preserve some of the pale spaces. I probably should have soaked the shirt in the dye fixative before removing the rubber bands even.
I plan to redo this with some handpainted yarns with multiple colors. I think the fixative makes more of a difference on colors other than navy.
What if you dont have the fixative would it be fine?
@@ChemKnitsTutorials Try salt and vinegar during the dye bath too next time, I dyed a white shirt army green and that sucker has never faded.
Rice Boi most of the dye will rinse out when you wash it. The colors will be very pale
I dyed some jeans using the dye only and they bled in the wash everytime I washed them. After about 5 or 6 washes they were pretty much back to where they were. I saw on another video to add a cup of salt and some dish soap to the dye before dying blue jeans. Haven't tried it but I will next time.
Good luck!
I agree with you, I've also done it both ways and I have found for me it's definitely not worth using the additive..over the long haul after washing it doesn't last any longer..
I still have to try this with red and pink- some comments say that it made a bigger difference there. SInce I still have the fixative, I've been using it on cotton, but I'm not sure I'd buy more once I run out.
When I applied the additive according to the directions and mind you this is only my opinion, however in my opinion it still didn't last any longer..thanks!
Thank you for this very informative experiment. I bought some RIT powder dyes just to have fun with some cheap white t-shirts & it was annoying to learn that you have to buy one more thing *and* go thru an extra step. I'll give it a miss and if the shirt fades, it fades. You also explained the dying process very clearly. Good job.
I think I should have applied the fixative before any rinsing, I just wasn't sure how to do that with the shirts wrapped up. I've used this fixative on cotton since I had since then. Some other commenters said it made a bigger difference on some of the reds or pinks I think.
Thanks for you information so after tye dye i soak it over night unthis solution then fabric softener ?
Can i soak the t shirt first in soda ash then add the prepared rit dye? Or what thanks
I appreciate this, but how accurate is this test? If the directions say to heat with fix on the stove continuously for 20 minutes and you didn’t do that… then maybe following the directions is significant for having the fix actually work.
Oh this isn't a perfect test at all. One instruction from their website also suggested spraying it on, maybe. There were aspects I didn't think through.
I will add i"ve continued to use this bottle on cotton dyed with Rit since I already have it.
I really should do an update to this video...
I love that you got that cool tie-dye pattern with this experiment but, I do have the feeling that there was bleeding from the size 2 shirt and yarn (which wasn't treated with fixidant) that transferred in the washer to the size 4 shirt, so, I do agree with you that using the fixidant would be a personal preference and I'm not sure if I'd necessarily use it when dyeing the cotton yarn, although I would wash it until the water was completely clear! Thanks again for another wonderful experiment! Happy Dyeing! The boys are going to look so cute in them!
I 100% agree. I probably should have washed the two shirts in the machine separately. And with yarn, I would absolutely wash until the water runs clear. The fixative *could* be a time saver, but it is nice to know that the colors stay very well without it, too.
ChemKnits Tutorials Absolute Brilliant Color retention so I definitely want to use the liquid RIT for my yarn for sure! Thanks again!
My pleasure!
Thank you kindly, years after the fact. :) I'm ready to dye a sweater and just read the directions that say I need the fixative. No one delivers quickly and I was bummed that I have to wait for the fixative. I'm so glad I found this video. Now I know I don't really need it, at least not urgently. I may order it anyway and use it later before I have to wash the sweater again. I hope it will still work then, for just in case. But I'm confident now that I can go ahead with the dying.
Since I HAVE the fixative I've been using it... this video may not be the best example, but both of the shirts did wear very similarly back when my kids fit in them. I have heard it makes more of an impact on red/pink dyes.
Thx for making this. I do wish though that you had followed the instructions to a T for a comparison since you really can't tell if it's because the fixative is ineffective or because you hadn't followed the instructions.
I realized that part way though. I've been meaning to do this again to follow the instructions better. And I've heard it makes more of a difference with red/pink than with navy.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials I think me myself included would really appreciate a do over. Thx for considering :)♥♥ Merry x'mas!☻☺
@@ArtWars314 me too!!
Thanks for taking the time to make this. Very educational
Glad it was helpful!
I didn't know you had to buy the fixative. Was going to put off dying some pants but now I think I'll just proceed without the fixative. Thanks!
From the comments I've heard that it makes more of a difference on red/pink than on the navy that I tried here. I have to redo this at some point.
She did it wrong. You're supposed to ad the fixative before rinsing. Once she rinsed out the dye the fixative became pointless.
You basically made up your own directions?
I know this was done 2 years ago now, but shouldn’t the dye fixed pieces have been washed separately from the non fixed pieces? Because no matter what the shirt still had white spaces on the fixed piece, once it goes in the wash with something else that bleeds color those white patches are going to absorb whatever is floating around in the water. If you washed it separately you might have a better understanding of how the fixative preserves the color. But it was nice to see how well it works in the rinse after you dyed. With cotton strings that I dye I notice a difference over time of the color not fading when the fixative is used versus not.
I probably should have washed them separately for sure, washing them together did ruin it a bit. If/when I redo this I plan to do a few things differently! (Plus look at a red/pink where I've heard the fixative makes more of a difference.)
You needed to do the first wash separately. The one without the color stay bled into the one without.
I was thinking the same thing. I think the shirt without the color fixative, it's color ran into the other items.
It’s a Beautiful pattern that came out. Did it ever fade?
Not in the time that the kids still fit in the shirts! They wore them a bunch that summer.
Thank you I was wondering if the cotton would fade. This was exactly what I needef
No problem 😊
I'm confused. Are you meant to put the dyed fabric straight into the colour fix or rinse the fabric before you put it into the colour fix??
I think you're supposed to put it straight into the color fix but I wasn't sure how to do it properly with the tie dye, so I rinsed it first.
I've gotten bleach on my 100% cotton work pants and I've dyed then twice and it still washes off. I'm going to try the color stay. I've heard to use salt too.
If the pants are cotton then I do recommend using salt with the dyes. If it still doesn't work, try some procion MX dyes + soda ash.
I wouldn't think you'd be able to tell a difference in three washes anyway. Wouldn't it take way more than that?
Possibly, but after dozens of washes (until the kids grew out of the shirts, they did wear them a lot) i never saw any difference.
What a great experiment! Who knows if it would have made a difference putting the dyed items destined for the fixative directly into the fixative bath right after the dying process. I'd dare say that the difference would be insignificant. Thanks for all the time you have given to conduct this experiment. It sure helped me😊
I still want to revisit this. I've heard that the fixative makes a bigger difference on the red and pink dyes.
@Cindy Olson - LOL...did you actually say that following the DIRECTIONS and putting the dyed item into the fixative right after the dying process would make an insignificant difference? LMAO! You see, the purpose of the fixative is to PREVENT the dye from leaving the fabric. Saying that step is insignificant is like saying that heating water to cook pasta noodles is insignificant. SURE, you can fix noodles in water without heating the water, BUT that CHANGES the end result!
@@Reality_TV I must have miscommunicated something in my comment as I personally never miss the fixative step. I must have referenced something else in the video. Poor communication on my part.
Thanks for this experiment, I was wondering... I bought the color stay and I will definitely use it. I wonder if you had left them both rolled up and elastic-ed, if the colours wouldn't bleed so much. The instructions I watched on the RIT channel said to use it immediately after colouring and the demonstrator did not take it apart. I also think the colour loss will get more noticeable after it's washed many times. However, the colour in cotton and does fade over time.
Kathy, I wonder that, too! Since I have the color fixative I've used it on other cotton projects (it didn't seem to HURT anything.) I think the letting it soak on a project was confusing for me to figure out with also doing a rinse... so spraying it before taking the rubber bands off may have helped.
A VERY GOOD STUDY CASE.
Thank you for this video 😊from single dad with dauther
What about denim? Would you reccomend using the fixative on denim or does it not make a significant difference?
TBH after this test I'm still unsure about the use of fixative. I haven't dyed denim specifically but since it is mostly cotton I might err on the side of using it. I've heard it makes more of a difference on red/pink which I still have to test out.
Is there a video on how to create that pattern she has?
at 1:53 I show how I fold up the shirts.
In case it makes a difference, would you need the Fixative when you are using powder Rit? or better to use salt and vinegar?
I haven't checked the fixative with the powdered dyes I don't think. I've only used the powders once so far.
Thank you for doing this video!
You don't rinse the dye out before using the color fixative
I dyed a ivory dress tangerine with the powder dye. And I didn’t use the color stay fixative and it was fine. 🤷🏻♀️
To this day I still have no idea what is in this mixture!
Soda ash works to keep colors bright, in my opinion.
I've never used rit dye, I'm just trying to see if it works better.
I'm not sure if soda ash helps the dye type in Rit. (Ultimately soda ash + commercial fiber reactive dyes is a much better option for tie dyeing than rit, in my opinion.)
If I soak my t shirt in soda ash an then apply prepared warm rit dye will that work
@devbachu7072 , I think so, the soda ash keeps the colors from running during that first wash.
This is what I have red blue an black
Anyone compare the RIT results to "Thoroughly clean a large mixing bowl or cleaning bucket, and then fill it with one gallon of fresh, clean water. Add one-fourth cup table salt and one cup vinegar. The vinegar and salt work together to naturally lock the color into the fabric. Feb 16, 2020"
In what water temp? Soak for how long? Thank you.
Thank you! The store did not have the fixative.
I still use it when I'm dyeing cotton (since I have it!) but I never noticed a huge difference in this shirt test. Others have said it helps more with reds and pinks to keep their hues.
Thank you SOO MUCH!!! I really want to open a tie dye sock business. This really saved my money.
I really need to redo this with reds and pinks. Apparently it helps more there to preserve the color.
Thank you so much for this! You saved me time and money, I really appreciate it :)
Glad I could help!
Thank you so much you saved me a trip from getting that fixative 😅
It's funny. Since I have it I'm still using it. I want to repeat this experiment with some reds and pinks because I've heard it can make more of a difference there. Also, I shouldn't rinse out the shirts first before putting them in the fixative. (Maybe I should have sprayed it on in this case.)
I did check to see what chemicals were in the fixative and everywhere I looked it said ingredients were proprietary info and no dangers were reported.
Oh thanks! I am mostly curious because I wonder what the chemistry is and how it is helping the colors. But safety is good ot know, too. :)
Thanks. I'm somewhat paranoid about chemicals in what not and the effects they have on our health.
me too i live certified organic wherever possible and even then you cannot trust because certain chemicals ae allowed, and some are allowed in small amounts, which can then become cumulative in the body.
I am shocked that someone would use the BOIL METHOD on ""COTTON" FABRIC & YARNS because of the shrinkage.
White Vinegar also sets colour after dying. I did it a lot, when dying fabric for quilting.
Interesting, I've never tried using vinegar on cotton fabrics, but I am very intrigued by that thought. I'm still not completely sure what is in this fixative.
Thank you for the comment on shrinkage. I now want to try a shrink test on some cotton yarns that I hand dye.
SuzAnne Moore what did you mean when you use white vinegar? Do you soak it? I’m new to dying and am trying to do a lot of research before.
@@shadowshifter5348 yea it sets it afterwards... im in group for swimsuits & all the girls say this about changing the colors of the specific brand bikinis.. rit synthetic dye is used for swimsuit material and other man made. The reg rit is for cotton & natural materials
Can i soak in soda ash before i used rit dye
This is a great question and unfortunately I don't know the answer. Rit doesn't recommend or say you need soda ash on their instructions.
I have to agree I have done over 50 pairs of jeans and about 100 shirt the staycolor works u lose almost no dye
can you fix it with a vinegar rinse
For cotton, no.
I thought the point of the fixative was so the dye doesn't bleed onto other clothing that isn't dyed.
That is absolutely one purpose. It is also supposed to help preserve the hue of the original color. I still need to repeat this project using something with multiple different colors. I think it makes a bigger difference on red/pink than on navy.
I really wish you would’ve washed the shirts separately. The one without the fixative probably bled onto the one with the fixative. Now we’ll never know.
That is very possible. There are a few things about this experiment that i want to re-do. I've still been using the fixative with cotton yarn since I have it around anyway.
I agree just NOT good enough. Waste of time watching.
I am wondering if there was so much color fix when washed together it helped both??
I highly doubt it. I rinsed out most of the color fix by hand before it went into the washing machine. You could also see in the untreated shirt that the color stopped bleeding pretty quickly with hand washing, there was VERY little color coming out when I decided to take it to the washing machine (but obviously still a tiny amount left.)
More dye DID bleed out from the soak step with the untreated... but even then the overall color didn't decrease.
Thank you for doing this experiment. I wondered if you were bothered by not knowing what was in the dye fixative. I don’t think I would purchase it without knowing what it was in the bottle.
I was definitely annoyed to not know what it is. I've heard from others that it makes more of a difference with the red and pink dyes. I still need to redo this project with those.
@@ChemKnitsTutorials I assume that is urea but I could be wrong.
It is urea
Anybody knows if it'll be an issue to use Synthetic fiber dye on 100% cotton ? Will it bleed
I don't have a firm answer for you. It will likely work on cotton, but I recommend using regular rit on cotton fibers for better washfastness.
It will most likely not stick/color as vibrantly. It seems to bond differently than the natural fiber dyes. More like a coating. But most of the bleed will wash out on the first few washes. The results on cotton are more muted. It is an interesting effect though. So if you don't mind unpredictable results, you can try it.
I'm dyeing an old cream color cotton sweater brown, because it has discoloration. I'd like for it to fade a bit over time, so that isn't a concern- however I want to make sure the the color won't rub-off on my expensive coats, upholstery, skin, etc. So, I need the colorstay or not so much?? Is the colorstay just to keep the garment from fading in the wash, or is it necessary to set the color from transferring when worn?
This is a great question. I haven't seen any staining or color transfer from when the boys are wearing these shirts. I think that as long as you wash your sweater multiple times then it should be fine. (I would throw a color catcher in the wash to see how much bleeding is happening after each step.) I don't think the color fixer will hurt the process at all, and I've been using it on cotton as long as I have it around.
I need to repeat this experiment with reds and pinks, I've heard it makes more of a difference there with keeping the real hue of the color.
What about a large military overcoat that is military green? I want to take out the liner. Use the color remover and dye it charcoal black! This item even without the liner is several pounds in weight. It is a fmr Soviet Military winter overcoat I'm trying to make a summer overcoat out of and dye it charcoal black. (To remove the military look and make it look like a duster.
I think it depends a lot on what the coat is made out of. Is it cotton? Wool? Can you put it through the washing machine? With an item as large as a coat, a lot of washing machine techniques would work well (assuming the piece is washable) so you can get even coverage of the color.
As for the color stay - I think you could use it in a vat (fill a sink with warm water for example) and then dye the piece in there. Good luck!
I wonder if it contains soda ash, which fixes reactive dyes onto natural fibers like cotton. Since Rit is a multi-purpose dye and contains multiple classes of dye, the fixative probably has fixatives for those same dye classes. So maybe soda ash and a vinegar equivalent? Not sure if that’s chemically possible.
Soda ash raises the pH and vinegar lowers it, so you can't really have both at once.
Darn facts, always getting in my way. 😂
@@ChemKnitsTutorialscan I soak the t shirt in soda ash first then add the rit mixture will be hat work or used vinegar my xture afure the tye dye
Protect this Woman 💯👌🏽
Thanks for sharing. Well done!
Thanks for watching!
Thank you sooo much for doing this review, you just saved me alot of heartache 🤣🤣
Glad I could help! I"ve heard (from comments here) that the fixative makes more of a difference with reds and pinks... this wasn't the best controlled experiment for sure.
Perfect, succinct video!
Glad it was helpful!
but the point of the fixative was so the dye doesn't bleed ...
Can u tell me why
Thank you so much for the video!
Exxcelent video, it helped me alot. Thank you miss.
You're welcome 😊
Thanks! All the advice I needed to skip the additional color fixative purchase. They tried it 😏
I plan to redo this with some reds and pinks sometime since I read that it can make some more difference there. Since I have it, I've been using it. ;)
You can have mine i just bought lol.
Hi Rebecca! Awesome results on those shirts!!
Thanks! I am SO EXCITED for my kids to wear them. :)
How would I dye this military overcoat?
for all you DIY guys out there just use a clear acrylic or lacquer spray paint as a fixative. Choose a matte, semi-gloss or gloss finish...works for me (just about every time almost)
Generic Jesus really?? Wow! So let it dry, spray, dry, then wash?
Yea steps please?!?
Very informative! Thank you!!!
This was so helpful, thank you!
I'm so glad!
Did y’all put it in the microwave
No I didn't.
I know this is an old video but salt is probably the fixative because salt will set the dye that's what my grandmother taught me
this has something in it besides salt - since salt is already an ingredient for the rit dyes (so that was already in the dyebath.) Of course, there are many chemicals that are classified as salts (not just table salt) so it could have something else in there.
I think all dye will fade over time. I think only we will know with normal life long use of the items. I did buy the fixative but It is for a blanket that we all know we don't wash our blankets as often as our clothes so I might not use it for the blanket and save it for t-shirts and socks that I might use more often and was with hot temp waters.
I just used this dye to tie dye sheets. It didn't recommend salt! Grrr Now, I read it needs a fixative! It's just easier to buy the tie dye kits
The fixative seems to make more of a difference on some colors (I've heard reds and pinks) than others.
very good scientific analysis!!
Thank you!
That's interesting. I think the pink migrating makes sense because reds are notorious for not being wash fast. To bad there isn't any way to tell if both t-shirts were bleeding or just the one. Given that the larger t-shirt wasn't pink after soaking, I would bet it was run off from the 2nd shirt. There is also the possibility that only the red color in the dye is bleeding in which case you may not notice a difference in the rest of the shirt since that is the minority color in the recipe. Anyway, I hope that you come back to this in a couple months with an update on how the t-shirts are doing. Perhaps it will take more than 3 washes to see a noticeable difference.
I'm sure that we could see some fading after 10 or 20 washes. :) I will absolutely update if I notice anything.
Next time you might get a better results if you have the same size shirts and not wash then in the same batch at first. I have a bunch of new shop rags that are red and talk about transfer the color. I put things in the load I want to turn reddish/pink. If I recall it takes about 5 wash cycles to set the color so it does not transfer without any color fixing agent.
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Love your experiment and very helpful, thank you!
You are so welcome!
it would be interesting to do a 'MSDS' search on the Rit fixative to see all the magical chemicals in that stuff
Unfortunately the MSDS won't tell us what is actually in it, just the health hazards and warnings.
It is on the safety data sheet.
It is urea.
You’re not suppose to rinse right away. You should have a large pale or plastic box with hot water with the fixative. Place your item in there for 20 mis, stir them rinse. Watch the 3 min video on Rit.
I absolutely struggled with what to do in real time. I often try to do things the first time with just the bottle to see how it turns out, and this was a flop for many reasons. I need to try it again. (Since I have the fixative I use it on cotton, but I haven't observed much)
Thank so much I loved the resaults
You're very welcome!
You didn't follow the product's directions; you are not supposed to wash or rinse before putting the fabric into the fixative; you are supposed to go straight from the dye to the fixative.
Yes - this was a huge error in my method. Next time I wouldn't open the shirt up and put it straight into the fixative.
Soda Ash or Baking Soda is the Color Fixative!
Interesting... I wonder if this is just a basic rinse... I really wish that it said what it is!
You can make your own soda ash all it is is baking soda buy a box of baking soda put it in an oven-safe pan turn your oven to about 375 and bake it and you have soda ash
@Perlet Menzies I'd say about 350 Fahrenheit for about an hour or so. just look it up here on YT how to make soda ash for tie dye I'm sure there's something here on YT. it's been a very long time ago for me
200 degrees for about 1.5 hours does the trick. If you are baking a large quantity, increase the time by 1/2 hour and stir the soda gently abut 1/2 way into the baking time.
After all that work, you then went ahead and washed them together. WHY would you do that? Given the very real probability that in doing so, it would introduce a variable that could (and likely may have), skewed your final results. Even when washing in cold water. Not trying to be a troll, or be mean. I’m just dumbfounded, that’s all.
I 100% messed this up. I got stuck in my brain about how to wash them the same way for the same amount of time. I've learned from other commenters that the color stay makes a bigger difference on reds/pinks than navy.
Use the Color Stay in cold water.
Thanks for the tip!
Blue jeans bleed out slowly through time. NOT 3 washes. Wash each 50X and then put up the results.
I'm about 7 washes in with these shirts and they are still looking very similar. I have plans to redo this project using some red and pink dyes along with the navy. I've had some people tell me that without the color stay fixitive the red shifted hues completely.
Very helpful thank you
Glad it was helpful!
You didn’t follow the directions with regard to the fixative. If you are using the Rit all purpose dye,you are to let the fabric sit for 30 minutes after you take it out of the dye, then put the fixative on it, cover it in cling wrap and let that sit in the hot sun for 2 to 3 hours and then let it cool off and then rinse it. Otherwise, you’re just rinsing out the die
I know I did a much less than perfect job with this first round. I've used it on cotton since then but am still not sure if it has made a difference. I hope to do another experiment (with better planning so I can actually follow the protocol better) sometime soon.
you get better results if you dont wash them or hand wash them and then air dry them
they’ll be way better trust me I’ve done it like a billion times on my black jeans
I know I should have used the fixative before washing.
"let" your kids wear them?
Thanks for sharing.
Nice
Thanks!
You don't need to buy the color stay on dye fixative I dye jeans all the time and they never had this in the past also I'm a teacher we tie dye t-shirt in the summer all the time and the color stayed on after the parents took them and wash them over and over it would be a waste of money to buy it
Thank you! Since I have some of this left I still use it but I'm not sure if I'll be purchasing more in the future.
The Navy Blue looks very Purple
Denell L. Bennett Survivor/Warrior I think it is the white balance. The boys are actually wearing the shirts today and it is a true navy. The white has a pink cast, though. :)
"Toxic ingredients"....cannot locate ingredients of the dye fixative, but there are sources online that warn it contains toxic ingredients.
I think that the fixative contents are propitiatory because they don't want people to make it themselves at home.
Is there a superior alternative?
Have you experimented any further? What are your conclusions?
I have not yet. I know I need to try this side by side using some red and pink rit dyes. I hope to do some more soon, but the list of videos to film keeps growing and this one has been pushed back. I've used this fixative from some other dyeing projects because I have it on hand... but I haven't tried side by side again yet.
Not only did you not follow directions, but you tied them and ruined the experiment. You needed to let them fully soak the colors in order to see the differences.
Rit clearly says to add the dyed clothes to the fixative mixture BEFORE rinsing. This video is USELESS.
Just don't put salt wash on metal
Kool
Thank you!
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