I thought that I’d share with you what some of the dyed clothes look like.
That sweater up there was originally a light gray color. I wore it all the time when I was pregnant and after Cooper was born. I wanted to update it because I realized I don’t like light gray with my skin tone and I also wanted something different. That undershirt was originally pink with mauve flowers. Soo not my cup of tea. This was in the pile of- “Let’s see what happens when it’s dyed!” I am really glad I did it because it brought out a lot of purples that I love.
My good friend Jessica up in Portland, Oregon is a stylist and she gave me this fabulous tip for putting the life back in old clothes. It also is a savior if you get food grease on clothes and they are damaged beyond repair. I threw in a few gray shirts that had olive oil on them (i rarely use an apron) and the dye masked it completely!
It’s also wonderful for dying baby onesies that have yucky stains!
The dye is great for black clothing too. I had a few pairs of sweatpants that I absolutely love but they were faded beyond belief. I think I have had them since college (almost a decade-yikes!) and now they look brand new. Love it!
These are roughly the instructions she gave me:
In a front load washing machine, put your clothes into dye. Evenly disperse the powdered RIT dye (in black) and about a cup of regular salt amongst the clothing. Add a little bit of detergent into the detergent section. Turn washer onto the HOTTEST/regular cycle. When the washing machine fills up with water and starts agitating for about 5-10 mins, STOP the cycle and let it sit for about an hour. Then continue the cycle and dry as normal. It is important for you to run another load after this one. It’s great if you do a cycle of darks as any residue dye leftover will not really effect your clothing. A load of rags with bleach also works well too. But they might turn a little gray.
If you don’t have the washing machine moving around, you get effects like this:
(these were a pair of lighter washed jeans)
Also remember that when you dye something with buttons, they don’t change the color. I know this sounds sooo stupid, but I was focusing on changing this light gray sweater into something darker, and didn’t even think to look at the buttons. Fortunately, I like the contrast of it! I dyed a green button-up shirt that had green buttons and the result was hideous. Consider yourself warned.
This tank top on top was white, followed by a light blue one and then a light gray tank.
I hope you have fun revamping your wardrobe. You might find a keeper like I did! And don’t blame me if it ends up looking like garbage! 🙂
I think I am going to start experimenting with colors soon!
