WINSONS Tie Dye Kit, 20 Colours Non Toxic Permanent Fabric Dye Art Set for Kids Women for Homemade Party Creative Group Activities DIY Gift

I looked at a lot of these all in one dye kits before finally deciding on this one. I was looking for one that would provide enough dye and colour options for a group of 20 kids, be an easy one-step process (so no having to pre soak fabrics in soda ash for 15 mins), and give decent end result in terms of colour fastness. In a nutshell this kit ticks all those boxes, and is extremely good value for money. It containes everything needed except the items to be dyed; and what I particularly like is that you are supplied with a set of refill dyes, besides the initial set that is already in the applicator bottles. So for me that was 20 colours but 40 measures of dye mix as I tended to look at it, and that was hard to beat for value considering you also get several sets of gloves, surface covering, tonnes of elastic bands, and a very neat and sturdy handled box to store everything in, all for under £20. The beauty of this double dose of dyes, is that it provided me with the opportunity to test out this set before using it with the kids group. So I made up 12 out of the first 20 bottles and from this I dyed 18 bags (a combi of totes and drawstring p.e type). So that's a lot of fabric there and I haven't even used all of the first set of dye! Fyi, these were 100% natural unbleached cotton, which I pre-washed first (detergent only, no conditioner) to remove any residues from manufacturing. I found that applying the dyes was easy with the bottles but that some colours didn't seem to want to dissolve as well as others had, despite how much shaking and mixing I did. This meant that dye particles got deposited onto the fabric, leaving little colour specks on the finished bags. Given that dye powder contains a mixture of different coloured particles to make up a certain shade, this meant I sometimes had specks of a different colour to the dye if that makes sense. This may just be something about the particular batch I had, and it certainly wasn't all colours that did this; just a couple (red and the dark purple mainly), slightly annoying but nothing to put me off the set as a whole.I let each bag once dye had been applied, sit inside it's own zip lock bag and all of these were then placed inside a carrier. They were left like this for almost 20 hours before unbinding and rinsing. (Instructions say to leave for about 6-8 hours, but from previous experience with such one-step dyes I've found leaving the dyed items to cure for around 24 hours helps to achieve a more vibrant and longer lasting result) I gave each bag 2 cold rinses and then a warm one before soaping them up to remove as much excess dye as possible, and then another cold rinse. Note, I purposely used dish soap for washing rather than laundry detergent. This was to put the colour fastness to the test as there are some mixed reviews concerning this with these particular dyes. Plus as I will be giving out these bags, I wanted to minimise the chance of colour transfer when in use. Dish soap is not made with the purpose of protecting colour, so I used it like I would a clarifying shampoo basically, to remove excess colour and build up. A lot of dye came out during the rinsing and washing, but for the most part all the colours I used with the exception of one (the darker leafy green) still looked beautiful and vibrant at this stage. Once dried everything looked considerably less intense in terms of vibrancy. Although still bright or bold enough for most, textile artists and professionals probably wouldn't be content, so not really for them. For instance, red went on a rich scarlet shade but ended up looking more rosey and pink by the time I'd finished, and black ended up a dark grey. This didn't bother me too much as they were still bold looking. The green though, that leafy forest green...that ended up rather insipid looking and almost minty in places. That faded a tremendous amount, but in hindsight that particular dye seemed more watery and diluted somehow when applying anyway. I also used a harsher soap to wash these remember, so I can't be too hard on the dyes, and the majority were fabulous. The overall outcome is some pretty bright and funky looking bags that I'm sure the kids will love.All in all, this kit is really good and I would definitely buy it again. I am not sure how well it would hold up to repeated washing if used for dying t-shirts say, or when used with a cotton mix. This will be the next experiment with this kit; but so far it's pretty good.

Bought as a gift and there was loads of different kinds and colours of beads. Very happy with my purchase

I got this product for my daughter who wanted to do tie dye t-shirts and she loved it. I had a go and loved it too. I got myself a different set by a different brand, but that set wasn't as good, it was fiddly and the colours ran after washing the dye out. I decided to go buy myself and partner our own Winsons kit and I am now addicted !! It's easy to use, the colours are great and it's good value for money. Will definitely be buying more when I need too.

I used this for my kid's birthday party, there was absolutely loads of dye and we still have the second round yet to use. Easy to follow and the kit helps to keep it as clean as possible. Only improvement would be for the plastic gloves to be smaller as kids really struggled in them!

loved it, the only criticism would be that it could come with some accessories, like a tote or something. Because this thing was priceyyy.

Amazing product easy to use kids had a ball .... theres enough to make plenty off projects and you get extra sachets off powder to refill and use again... my 7 and 8 yr old had no problem using this with little supervision

I’m dyspraxic and I really struggle with arts & crafts but this was so easy to do and mess - free with the plastic sheet that came with it! Came with sooooo many rubber bands too which is really handy. I dyed Fruit Of The Loom white cotton t - shirts, I didn’t bother washing them first either just got them damp using the bath. I put the t - shirts into big Tesco freezer bags to soak in the dye for about 24 hours before putting the t shirts separately in the washing machine for a cold rinse :)I’m so happy with how they turned out!! So easy to do and so beautiful!!!! :)

Bought this as a Christmas gift for an 8 year old who is obsessed with tie dye. Perfect for letting children express their creativity. Comes with loads of colours and handy carry case to stop any bottles getting scattered around the home. Highly recommended!