Saturday, March 5, 2011

The dyeing of the jeans

I did it! I dyed my jeans. I thought I'd share how I did it, hopefully it will be helpful.


1. I started off by running to Walmart to buy some Rit dye. It's in the section where the laundry detergent is located. I bought the liquid Rit navy dye.


This was my victim...





I got these at a thrift store, and I thought maybe if I dyed them darker they would look a bit like american apparel jeans. I have a pair but they fit me funky; the waist is huge, because I have to buy a larger size to accommodate my hips.

2. I read the directions carefully...


I was paranoid I was going to mess up something so I read the directions a million times, but it was super easy, and there was no need to fear.

3. You fill up your washing machine...



with warm water and then add the dye. After it is mixed in a bit you add your clothing item of choice. Make sure it is already wet and not folded. 



4. Then you put it in the water and run it for 30 minutes. After that you rinse it in cold water until the water runs clear. Take the item out and throw it in the dryer!

5. You then add some detergent and bleach and run an empty cycle for your washing machine to clean itself.

Isn't that super easy!? I thought so. After I had done this, I had the following result:



It wasn't quite dark enough for me (in the picture it looks darker than it actually was), so I ran back to Walmart and got the powder Rit dye (two boxes of the navy and one of the black). I mixed in both boxes of the navy and about half of the black, and was pleased with the end results...


Now I have a lovely pair of new-to-me jeans!

I hope this was somewhat helpful for any of you who want to venture into the dyeing world. It's so easy, and I would encourage lots of it! 

Love. 

4 comments:

  1. I love this idea! I hate when my jeans start to fade out. So I started to wash them inside out and they last a lot longer being dark.
    I must try this though! Thank you for sharing.
    It just might save me money on old faded jeans!

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  2. These are lovely! I've used Rit dye but only for yarn, and only in a bowl, because the inside of my washer is white and I'm paranoid I'll stain it permanently! Your dye job turned out great :-)

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  3. Oeh I love this DIY, the dark colour looks great on the pants! The idea is also really awesome, especially with the colour blocking trend, I mean you can also dye them red instead :D

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  4. AWESOME!! i will have to try this out! i thinking adding the black would be a good idea because mine are super light! your jeans look soo awesome, love it! thanks so much for sharing! you rock!

    xo,
    cb

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