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Black sweatshirt dye recipe

The colors and process used to dye this cotton sweatshirt in an ombre design.

Corky holding a black tie dye sweatshirt sleeve up to photograph it hanging on a white wall.

Dye Colors

12 cups of water + 1 tablespoon of Brushed Steel dye

3 cups of water + 1 tablespoon of Raven dye


Dye Process

This sweatshirt was dyed in a bin, using fiber reactive procion dye from Dharma Trading Co.


The sweatshirt was presoaked in soda ash using a ratio of 1 cup of soda ash per gallon of water. It was only hand wrung, so it was dripping wet with soda ash when it was dyed. 


Mixing the dye

About 12 cups of water were used to dissolve 1 tablespoon of brushed steel procion dye. It was poured into a plastic bin. 


The sweatshirt was placed into the dye bin and swished around until it was thoroughly saturated. 


Next, about 3 cups of water was used to dissolve 1 tablespoon of the color raven. It was poured into the dye bin, at one end only. The end where the neck of the sweatshirt was. 


I used my gloved hands to swish the neck around a little, to make sure the black color was well mixed in, at the top. I didn't try to mix it as much lower in the body of the sweatshirt. 


Batch time

To fully set the color, the bin sat at room temperature for about 24 hours before rinsing.


Sweatshirt blank

This white sweatshirt was purchased from Jiffy. It's 100% cotton on the outside but overall, it's 90% cotton and 10% polyester. They are super fast with their shipping. 


Custom tie dye

Order a sweatshirt, made by Corky.

This page was last updated on

Oct 14, 2026

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