purple-dee-black

       Coming home to Chicago for break I have found myself with a lot of free time on my hands, as well as a lot of old clothing from high school waiting to see the light of day just one more time. With that surplus of time and material I have tried some new DIY projects (two of which were utter failures and thus will not be gracing the theoretical cyber pages of this blog any time soon...).


       While searching for leftover clothing to steal from my sisters in their rooms, I ran across a pair of beloved purple skinny jeans from my Jonas Brothers obsession senior year of high school....needless to say they were a bit past their prime. (Photo of them pre-dye action below...)

Christ, why would anyone let me Piknik photos....

       Luckily, however, these beauts still fit, and, since I was in the market for some new black jeans, I decided to bust out the brand-spankin'-new bottle of Black Rit Dye given to me by my big sister, Katie, for Christmas and attempted to give these guys one last chance of survival.

Glitter spray, Rit Dye, gift card to my favorite craft store, Acryllic
Finish Modge Podge Spray, and thread from Katie!

       Being the seasoned-veteran dye-er that I am I thought I would include some tips to get the best results if you are to try dying clothing yourself:
1. Wear something dingey.....No matter how careful you think you are, you will inevitably splash some dye on yourself or your clothes.
2. Check the tag.....different materials take to the dye very differently (and for some, they don't take the dye at all) and the process for each is different.
3. Stir constantly.....This should be obvious considering it's on the instructions, but if you don't stretch out the fabric and constantly keep it moving, you may end up with a tie-dye looking garment instead of a nice even overall shade.
4. The color in the pot will NOT be the end result.....so don't freak out.


And off I went!

       A full bottle of dye, 3 gallons of water, and about a cup of salt went into the pot until it boiled, then in went the purple skinny jeans. 60 minutes of constant stirring later the pants came out, were thoroughly rinsed, and washed. After all was said and done, this is what the pants look like now:

       I must say, the color of the photos are a little deceiving. Instead of a bold black as I had hoped, the pants came out a very dark purple eggplant color (still a big upgrade from the Nick Jonas look, though I must say...). Although not perfect, they will surely still be loved and potentially re-dyed at a later time.

       I highly suggest dying clothing.....I think it's one of the easiest, fastest, and cheapest ways to re-vamp a garment that has lost it's luster after many wearings. 

ming.