Adventures in dyeing :)

This post is a little late....but better late than never, right?

So I don't know about you but I have LOVED the colored pant trend this summer. Not only the colored part, but the colors that are being used. The mints and corals are my favorite!

I have had an itch to do my own dyeing for a while so this lovely trend was my perfect opportunity! I decided on doing something coral...then I was wandering the sale racks at Old navy and stumbled upon some linen white shorts in my size. Perfect!

So here is what you will need

- the dye you want (here is a great color guide I used from RIT) I used Scarlet for this color

- white article of clothing or fabric

- large pot for dying (stainless steel sinks work too)

- clock or timer

Here are how my shorts first started...sorry for the bad picture. I wasn't about to put them on for the camera...they were a bit see through before the dyeing process :)

I unfortunately don't have a picture of the whole process but basically, you mix the dye according to the packaging and swirl your clothing around in it. I will say that I have heard a lot of people have trouble with dyeing things. I did not have any issue getting even coloring etc. I think that what helps with that is to constantly move your clothing in the dye. This distributes it evenly and prevents it from sitting in one spot too long or folds of fabric to not get enough dye on them. 

So, with that said, stir your clothes and you should be just fine. And make sure whatever you are using to dye the clothing in is big enough to stir adequately. 

For my particular desired color it said 15 minutes in the dye. I will tell you now, you will get nervous looking at how dark the color is. Mine looked like a salmony-orange color and I thought I was doomed and the project had failed. 

This is what my shorts looked like after 15 minutes in the dye and then all the rinsing that comes after that. The rinsing takes a very long time...

See how BRIGHT these things look?!

Anyway, all there is to it after this is washing them to make sure the dye is all out and then wearing your new wonderful colored clothes!

I know I don't have all the pictures for the steps...but it really is explained well on the RIT dye...and if you have questions feel free to ask! 

It is a lot of fun picking your own color pallet and seeing the process unfold. One thing to note is that the thread did not take the dye so I can see white stitching on my shorts...but I like it so it doesn't bother me.

I hope you are all doing wonderfully! Hopefully the blog wont be so slow and quiet in the weeks to come...life is coming back into some normalcy these days, I hope ;)

With love,

Whitney