How to Dye Your Clothes

Have you ever wondered why there is not a whole lot of information on how to dye clothes online? Well, I think I figured out why... because it's not exactly fool proof. But don't you worry- I figured out how to successfully dye two dresses of mine (one was 100% cotton, one was a knit blend).

I needed a navy blue dress for a friend of mine's wedding that is coming up in August. I have looked around, but never found anything I just loved. While browsing my closet, I stumbled upon THIS adorable Cynthia Rowley dress I found at T.J. Maxx last year (aka Cynthia Rowley Dress: Simplicity pattern 2443)


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This cute little dress fit perfectly and I just loved it. Well, when you're me, you have a hard time keeping clothes looking nice forever, and one day I pulled my dress out of the washing machine and noticed THIS:

(the ink stain in the center of the picture)

I tried to wash it a few times, but when the stain didn't come out, I decided that I would go ahead and try my hand at dying it. And man was I scared to!

I stumbled upon this *hilarious* video by Bunny (which was by far the best tutorial/video I could find) and decided to trust Bunny and all her expertise. I devised my plan according to her instruction.

I would need:
- 1 bottle of liquid Rit
- a 5 gallon bucket
- lots of hot water
- some wooden skewers or some type of stirrer

I bought the navy Rit liquid dye at Wal-Mart. I went ahead and bought 2, just in case.

I boiled a few gallons of water that would provide enough room for the dresses. (I had to get multiple pots going at the same time since I didn't have a large enough pot)

I dumped all the hot water into the 5 gallon bucket and added the entire bottle of liquid dye. I used my skewers (just plain wood skewers, like you would use for kabobs) to stir it really well.

I submerged the dresses in the hot bucket and made sure that they could move freely.

(I think the steam messed up the camera lens)

I left them in the bucket for 3 days. (Ok, yes, I forgot about them). The Rit bottle said to do 30 minutes (nowhere near long enough), Bunny said she's left them in there for days (this will make more sense when you watch the video). And then, just as Bunny suggested, I put on my yellow rubber gloves and pulled the dresses out of the dye and laid them on my driveway (classy, I know...) and hosed them down til they quit bleeding navy.

I threw them in the wash and hung them to dry and here was my result:

Yep, really uneven coverage. I was so disappointed.

That's when I realized why there was a lack of tutorials: because people probably fail to get the results they want all the time.

Well I was not about to surrender and have to throw my dresses away, so I decided I would go ahead and do the whole process over one more time using my extra bottle of dye.

I boiled more water, added the dye, stirred like crazy, added the dresses, submerged them, and occasionally would walk by the bucket, put on my yellow gloves, and stir the dresses in the dye water a bit.

I let them sit for 2 days and then took them out, laid them on the driveway, hosed them off, washed them in the washer, and guess what! IT WORKED.

My dresses turned out perfectly even and totally cute. And now I have a choice of which dress to wear to sweet Kristen's wedding. Oh, and two more dresses. Yay!


So don't be afraid to dye your clothes, just be sure to get an extra bottle of dye.

Oh, and I just washed something dark in my washer after this load and everything was just fine.