You all know I love sweaters. I am always wearing one (like right now) and I find them a great accessory that's quick, warm and easy.
I'm a Land's End whore. I am. I go to their clearance webpage, and I'll get 4 $11 all cotton sweaters for a song. I've sone it twice now.This go around I got a cotton wrap over blouse sweater. Super cute. I bought 4, all white. Well, cream. But the key is 100% cotton, which means dyeable.
This was my first time dyeing something in this new apartment. I was very worried about the process. I didn't want to splash dye everywhere, and more importantly, I didn't want to stain my lovely, lovely sink.
 |
| Sexy sink! |
I dye things from light to dark, so from the dyes I currently own, I choose three that I felt would fit my wardrobe needs.
I started with the iDye ecru and it gave stellar results.
The next dye job was the kelly green. I used the whole bottle of RIT dye, but dyed this on the stove because RIT handles differently than iDye.
 |
| This was after a second rinse. |
I cooked that sweater for near an hour, and it seemed to take really well, but the rinse process took twice as long, much more water than the iDye, and it dried with streaks. Fail.
This red sweater is also done the same way as the green one, but I combined a few colors of RIT; red, pink, blue, and yellow. I think that combination glazed the colors together and filled in pigment wise what may have been lacking with their counterparts. Perhaps if I had used the yellow and blue with the kelly green, I would have had a different outcome.
This dye job turned out really well.
So well in fact that I wore it to work yesterday and got a lot of compliments.
This outfit is made up of my newly dyed red sweater, a skirt that was a pair of pants that I cut open, some black diamond patterned tights, some three tone oxfords, and a wool beret I made some time ago.
I love doing this. It's a great way to add variety to a wardrobe especially when you find a style you like.
I dyed all three of these sweaters in one afternoon. I proably could have dyed one or two more, but I ran out of sweaters :) Don't worry, I'm not a compulsive sweater buyer...I don't think.
How often do you dye?
Have a great Thursday!!
I love those shoes!
ReplyDeleteI actually think the marbled look on the green sweater is pretty!
I've only done tea dying and will be doing color dying for some dance costumes in the very near future so this post is really helpful! I'll probably use a lobster pot, if I used our laundry sink my husband would have a fit :)
ReplyDeleteI dye my clothes fairly often but I use the washing machine. I also usually use the powdered Rit dye, but you seem to get nicer results from the liquid so I am going to try that next time--although you are probably also getting better results because you are using less water, even on the smallest load setting my washer probably uses about three times as much water as you use.
ReplyDeleteThe RIT liquid dyes work way better than the powders. Way better. I never use their powders. Though, iDye (sold at many craft stores) is far and away superior to RIT in ever since of the word. Once all my RIT is used up I'm never going back.
ReplyDeleteI dye fairly often. Hair, clothes, you name it. I've figured out how to dye polyesther & nylon, too!
ReplyDeleteI happen to like the streaked look of the green sweater. If it really bugs you, get a complementary shade of green and dunk it a couple of times to get a two-toned effect.
I am NOT a fan of Rit Dye. I use Dylon powder and iDye almost exclusively *unless* I just can't get the right color. Then I go for Rit. Before I head to Rit, though, I use Wilton gel icing colors and use those. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish with food coloring. :-D
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/fooddyes.shtml
They say you can't use it on natural fibers. I've never tried it, but I'm willing to be that since Wilton icing coloring dyes my hands REALLY well, I can make it work with cotton. I know it works with poly/cotton blends, organza, chiffon, etc.
The red sweater looks amazing. What a great thrifty idea!! I recently bought a very large yardage of some white fabric, so I'm hopefully going to be able to put your tips to good use.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to dye my wedding dress the color of your first sweater but can't figure out how to because it is 36% cotton, 38% poly, 21% rayon, and 5% Elastane. I don't know if regular idye would work or if id have to use idye poly or mix them (which makes it difficult cause theres no ecru in poly). Do you have any advice?
ReplyDelete