An alkaline dyeing of polyester with an alkali-stable disperse dye, Dianix (R) Scarlet AD-RG, was developed using sodium edetate as an alkaline buffering agent. The results obtained indicate the suitability of using sodium edetate for alkaline dyeing of polyester when compared with the control alkaline dyeing using Dianix AD system. Selected mono and bifunctional reactive dyes were used in combination with the alkali-stable disperse dye for dyeing of polyester/cotton blend. Different dyeing methods for cotton and polyester/cotton blend fabrics using sodium edetate were evaluated in comparison with their respective control alkaline dyeing methods. The results of using sodium edetate in one-bath two-stage and two-bath dyeing of polyester/cotton blend were comparable with that of the control dyeing method. Particularly, no change in the leveling and fastness properties was evaluated for all samples irrespective of the dyeing method. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.