Do you ever find a piece in your closet that you just can’t seem to let go of? The fit is great, the details are perfect, but the color is all wrong?
WAIT! Don’t get rid of it, UPDATE it with DYE! Here’s a super easy, step-by-step guide on exactly how to make the most of those unused pieces.
Last year when we moved to a new house I did a huge purge of all the old “stuff” that I don’t want or need any more.
Let’s be honest, it was mostly clothes. After several hours of evaluating each piece, I had a big bag of clothes that I really like, but just never seem to pick up and wear.
So I figured this would be the perfect chance to try a little at home clothes dying.
BE WARNED: This hobby is addictive. I’m now looking at every fabric thing in my house to see what other color I could change it to!
Dying Clothes at Home
Notes Before You Start:
Make sure that your fabric is a “natural” fabric. Cotton, linen, wool… Polyester blends, nylon, and other synthetic fibers will not take the dye.
Decide how dark you want the finished product and buy the correct amount of dye. Check the back (or side) of the dye you will be using. Some are made to dye 3lbs of fabric to the correct shade, while others are only strong enough for 1lb.
I used this Scarlet dye, just one bottle for everything pictured.
You’ll Need:
1 Cup Salt
1/2 Cup Clorox bleach
1 Bottle of Dye (at least, check the back to see how many bottles/boxes you will need to dye the amount of fabric you want to dye.)
1: Set washer to Hot/Cold and make sure the wash cycle is at least 30 minutes long. Set up second rinse cycle for later, if you have that option.
2: Add dye and salt and run agitator for a few seconds to mix well.
3: Add clothes and start full cycle
4: Run rinse cycle until water runs clear (mine was clear after the automatic second rinse).
5: Add detergent and wash clothes like you normally would.
6: Dry clothes as normal.
7: Add 1/2 cup of Clorox bleach to washer and run as normal (with nothing else in it!).
FINISHED!
Here is the before and after of my attempt.
The formerly gray cardigan is my favorite from the batch. It’s new color is a pale clay red and it is perfect!
Things I Learned
* I should have used 2 bottles, not just one. The color change on some of the pieces is too subtle… though others are perfect.
* Even though the piece may be made from 100% cotton, that doesn’t mean the thread is.
Note the button holes on the formerly gray cardigan.
All in all, I loved the way everything turned out!
$5 to change 7 pieces into things I will actually wear is a bargain if you ask me! I will definitely be dying more things in the future.
In fact, I have a gray chevron skirt that is just crying out to be dark green… :-)
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