A couple weeks ago, a very sweet blogger friend of mine named Brooke Wyles asked me if I would do a tutorial on overdying fabrics and possibly sell them in my etsy shop. Well Brooke, I was completely surprised and honored that you asked me! I will try my best to be as accurate and informative on the list of do's & and don'ts because I've made plenty of mistakes! Keep in mind that the colors that you get will vary based upon the type of fabric and the color of the fabric. Don't be afraid to experiment and have fun with overdye. Also, the Rit company has an excellent website and a blog with a tremendous amounts of helpful info including color swatches and even measurement instructions. The link is ; www.ritdye.com/blogs/posts . I was extremely impressed with the set up and how easily you navigate yourself around. You'll also be able to see countless videos/tutorials as well.
The Don'ts List
1. Don't use the powder formula, for a beginner this formula is too concentrated and I found that you acheived more unevenness/ tyedyed effect.
2. Don't use your washing machine, unless you wish to color a large load of linens, duvet, or fabrics alike in weight. For me, I found that even in a small load there's a significant amount of water poured into the washer and it was hard to figure out how much dye to pour into the washer.
3. Don't use COLD water, EVER !!!!!
4. Don't leave your overdyed fabrics outside to dry for more than the time required to dry completely. Although this is the fastest and easiest way to dry, the sun will bleach out the color big time!! I recommend you using an indoor clothes drying rack and dry indoors.
5. Don't dye fabrics with bad lighting, such as at night. I recommend and prefer to dye in my kitchen sink with natural sunlight only! You can also buy storage bins with unusual sizes to really get more coverage for your fabric. Believe it or not, I have dyed a hot pink umbrella purple in a storage bin!
The Do's List
1. Buy your colors. I have bought several from the store and the Rit website as well. My faves are ; petal pink, wine, purple, evening blue, royal blue, denim, aquamarine, teal, kelly green,lemon yellow, taupe, and tan bronce in the liquid dye only.
2. I also recommend buying Clorox bleach gel for laundry. I have used this to lighten a panel of lace fabric when I mixed wine and petal pink. I acheived a hot pink color instead of the pink that Rachel Ashwell uses on her high end lace curtain panels. I have sinced learned that by mixing denim and wine in small amounts, you will acheive a similar effect.
3. Always use HOT water!
4. Wear rubber gloves, an old shirt and use a cheap large utensil spoon to evenly mix the dye before submerging fabric.
5. Keep paper towels handy and put dyes in a storage bin with a paper towel underneath because they drip from the tops.
6. Pour a little dye at a time and stir evenly, do a test on similar fabrics to be sure this is the color you want. Sorry, I have to admit, I don't measure when doing this. Again, I can't stress pouring a little at a time.
7. Most of the time you will see the color change almost within seconds or minutes so you really should not walk away from dyeing.
8. When the color is ready to be rinsed out, first squeeze out the color, then rinse well with COLD water only, hang and dry.
That's it! I hope I've been helpful to you and if there's any questions you have, I be delighted to help you.
Remember, I'm not an expert on overdye. I'm just like you, trying to have some fun, learn, be creative and save a few bucks whenever I can.
Below are pics of other things I've dyed. The blue lace consists of denim and aquamarine. The light pink SSC shams were bleached ot several times, then I used denim and wine. The lace panel I used wine, petal pink and then bleached them with the Clorox laundry gel. Of course not all done on the same day.
Have fun and thanks for being such a sweetie Brooke! Also, I'm so happy you love the corsage, and hugs right back at ya!
I used small amounts of purple only to acheive this pale lilac color.
Have a great day!
~ Steph
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