I have been binge-crafting lately, and my current spastic project is dying lingerie with good old fashioned RIT DYE. I have been posting about it on facebook for the past few weeks, and have had several questions about it. I agreed to write out a basic step-by-step tutorial on how to correctly dye your things.
You are going to need:
A large pot
A super awesome color of RIT Dye in a box. (I use the powder dye)
Some Salt
White/light colored things you want to dye.
A large spoon you can happily stain.
1. Fill your big giant pot full of water, and dump about 1/3 cup of salt in it. Bring that bad baby to a boil! When that water is boiling good and hard, dump your color packet (or colors if you are blending.) into the pot.
2. Get your fabric items a little wet before placing them into the boiling dye bath. I can usually fit about 2 slips, 2 bras, some gloves and a few pairs of underwear in each pot. You can add less if you prefer, and its best to practice on something that is not very valuable to you.
3. Stir like crazy. Set a timer for about 25 minutes, and stir your witches brew often. I tend to give a good swirl and re-arrange everything in the pot every 5 minutes, this will ensure EVEN color. You want even color, I promise.
4. Beware of boil over! I have to blow on mine a lot. You could just turn the heat down a little, but really, who wants to be responsible? Not I!
5. When your timer goes off, transfer the pot to your bathtub. Start by running warm water over the pot, draining it out every so often. Gradually turn the water colder, and colder until you are rinsing in the coldest water possible. Rinse until the water turns clear.
6. Squeeze the excess water out of the items, and either lay flat to dry or cheat and use your dryer. I like to use my dryer, I am very lazy.
7. Admire your amazing pieces of dyed goodness.
So far my favorite colors have been the Fuchsia pink, and the Purple (I mixed about 1 Tablespoon of red into it, it made a lovely Plum!) I have dyed bras, blouses, underwear, girdles, slips, gloves, and even a purse.
14 comments:
Awesome! I've never dyed anything before, and now you've inspired me! Thanks for posting!
Great post! I've dyed things before, but only because I've stained them and they needed to be a darker color at that point! HA! I'm going to start doing this when I can't find a garment in a color I like :) Thanks!
I want to go on a dye binge now!
Thank you thank you!! I have so many things I want to dye, this really did inspire me to get crackin' on that.
Thanks so much for posting this! Have you dyed anything that was not cotton? I have a few things I would love to dye but am worried it could ruin the fabric...
Ruby, it's really really hard to dye some things that are synthetic. Sometimes it kinda works, other times is is a hot mess!
I love dying things! I usually buy too much dye and do it all in the tub because I always want to dye something huge, and I too am very, very lazy!
Does that mean that the pot can no longer be used for other purposes other than dying? I've actually saw some post about vegetable dyes, not sure if you've tired those?
To keep a pot from boiling over, lay a wooden spoon (or any long item) across the pot. It works!
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
Synthetics often dye wonderfully. I guess I would be worried about dying like, silks or wools... that could end badly...
Fabulous instructions!! & you look super cute too!! :)
I'm off to make a dying pile for myself now!! Thanks :)
Yay! Thank you so much for writing this!I know what I will be doing after Christmas!
oh wool is easy peasy to dye. I have done that loads. The reason I said synthetic can be hard is because often times a synthetics are colored in the manufacturing process of the fiber. And there is no such thing as one dye that can do it all, fibers all act different in the same dye solution. I dyed a synthetic evening coat a few weeks ago and it took different all over (I knew it would so it was ok) The satin liner is darker than the outside, and the thread and label are super dark because they had cotton in them and it sucks up color great. Can you tell I loved textiles in school? haha. I think fibers are so fascinating.
Having fun catching up on all your blog posts, I'm so far behind. Congrats on your new beautiful baby girl and thanks for this "dye post" -- my mom used to dye things when I was little, but I've always shyed away from it. On my list of "Adventure Projects" now. :)
~Michelle
Having fun catching up on all your blog posts, I'm so far behind. Congrats on your new beautiful baby girl and thanks for this "dye post" -- my mom used to dye things when I was little, but I've always shyed away from it. On my list of "Adventure Projects" now. :)
~Michelle
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