Dyeing clothing

[ame]

Anyone ever dye clothing a different color? I made my first go of it today. I have a "favorite" kind of pants that I wear to work and they were on clearance so I got a few pair but most were hideous colors in my size. So I got several, and the ones I knew were in colors I'd never wear I decided to dye Navy. I set aside the ones I knew I'd wear the color it came in though I did buy stuff that I could make into dark khaki green if I wanted. But today I tried Navy on purple pants. I did stovetop method. So I essentially boiled my pants. I used a stockpot that's probably a 10q and it was really not big enough for as much water as you're supposed to use so the mix was probably like insanely potent. But I boiled for 30 minutes or simmered or whatever. It was hot water but not a rolling boil. They're in the washer right now with their RIT setting solution and then Ill wash with the woolite for dark clothes. I didn't realize you're supposed to wash the item before you dye it, and I didn't read that til after I'd been boiling my pants for like 10 minutes so hopefully it takes.

I also am going to dye a LUCY brand hoodie that I don't love the color of. I expected it to be darker/brighter than it was, and it's more of a light aqua. So Im going to try for a more emerald green by mixing a little dark green, kelly green and teal. We shall see.

 

[kenny]

I tried dying clothing years ago.
Never again.

All I can recall is it made a mess of my kitchen, the results were not even, and the garment kept bleeding and ruining other clothes for zillions of wash cycles.

YMMV, but for me,

 

[canuk-gal]

I tried dying clothing years ago.
Never again.

All I can recall is it made a mess of my kitchen, the results were not even, and the garment kept bleeding and ruining other clothes for zillions of wash cycles.

YMMV, but for me,

AND the dye rubs off on other clothing, leather bags, furniture......

good luck tho!

cheers--Sharon

 

[ame]

Yea I am a little concerned about bleeding. MOST of my clothes are dark blue or green so I am ok with the bleeding in some cases. I am worried about ruboff though. I did them both though, both stovetop. I have the pants hanging up to dry and I've done a rinse in the washer and a wash in the washer, and after the hoodie is done washing (its done a rinse in the washer and the sink and is in the wash cycle now) Ill hang it and rewash it later as well. I use those "shout color catchers" anyway when I wash, so hopefully that does help, bec when I get new clothes sometimes they bleed.

 

[kenny]

Hope you don't have a couch upholstered in white raw silk.

 

[ame]

Hope you don't have a couch upholstered in white raw silk.

I don't own any white silk anything, but esp not any couches.

 

[aviastar]

I dyed a beige slipcover for my couch navy blue with RIT in the washing machine...worked brilliantly! No rubbing; I don't know about bleed because I only ever washed it by itself, but the color was even and long lasting. I even did it a second time when it started to fade a few years in.

I think it can be hit or miss due to a few factors like fabric content and methodology, but it's certainly worth a try!

 

[ame]

I did stovetop on both articles and both seemed to work well. I made the solutions incredibly strong though, using barely 2 gallons of water, and 2 boxes of dye on the navy, and 3 on the green.

1) I dyed a pair of purple pants cotton/spandex to navy. I boiled those for about 35 minutes. Then I rinsed well in the sink, though not as well as I did with the green I think. Then I took them downstairs just in the pot, and ran a low water cycle in the washer with half a bottle of the rit color setting stuff. Then after that was done I washed it a full cycle with Woolite for darks. Then I let them hang dry for a few hours while I did the hoodie.

2) I did a Lucy hoodie that showed up a lot lighter green than I expected. I wore it a couple times and thought it would grow on me but never did. I saw the color I thought I ordered in the store on clearance last weekend and decided to try to dye it. I mixed two boxes of Kelly Green, 1/2 box teal and 1/2 box dark green. It turned out a really nice emerald green that I really like. I finished the boiling almost exactly the time the wash cycle on the pants finished (I waited a while between). I think I boiled the hoodie for 13 minutes, and then left it in the dye about 10 more without the heat on. So I rinsed the hoodie in the sink way longer than the pants. Then I did the same rinse with the rit setting stuff, then I washed it with regular tide coldwater two full cycles in a row. I just hung it to dry.

I just threw the pants back in to wash again with a pair of dark wash jeans, and my underwear (all black) and some of my husbands underwear (also black) and a navy cardigan of mine. Things it can bleed on as much as it wants. I always throw in those Shout Color Catchers when I do my laundry just in case anyway, so I made sure every time I washed these items today I used those. They're coming out lighter each time so that's good. Ill have to be careful that the hoodie doesn't rub off on anything. Im mostly concerned about my purse.