Last summer I dyed fabrics for the first time. A lady in a quilting group told us how to do this. I am sure she used the latest and greatest products for her fabrics, but I was just experimenting and using just scraps of some good white and off white fabrics. From the good ole Wal-Mart, I purchased those powdered dyes used to dye tee shirts. First I washed all fabrics with Trend washing powder. (I was told that this would be a good sub for the chemicals she uses). Then I got out zip lock plastic bags, scrunched up fabric stuffed it into these bags. Next I mixed up the dyes in paper cups and poured the liquid dye into the zip lock bag. Then I sort of kneeded the bag, gently. Then I took these bags outside to a patio table to "bake" in the hot summer sun. Of course the next thing was to rinse and rinse then wash the fabric. There was a lot of contrast and some very distinct patterns.