And it was definitely an adventure. An overflowing pot of red water, stained counters and stove, and a very angry Mom later, me and my sidekick (Dad) ended up with this:
Admittedly, in the end I was the sidekick because I was completely defeated after the overflowing pot and having to clean up after myself, but my Dad was willing to defy Mom and continued my DIY project while I just watched, LOL. However, the color itself actually turned out beautifully! The problem was that the rust stain I was trying to cover became darker instead of being covered. I tried to capture the stains in a photo, but they're a bit difficult to see here. Check out the two long vertical lines right below the crease:
FAIL.
If don't have a rust stain you are trying to cover, I *highly* recommend the iDye from Dharma Trading Co.. I'm not sure how the iDye will work on 100% synthetic fabrics, but it works amazingly well on natural and synthetic blends. To get the color above, because my pants were a mixture of both poly and cotton, I used both iDye for Natural Fabrics in 411 True Red and iDye for Poly Fabrics in 449 Red (per the website's suggestion).
Make sure to get an old pot (I got one from my local thrift store for $5) and an old spoon for stirring, lots of paper towels and wipes to clean up after yourself. Add color to pot, bring to boil, add item of clothing to be dyed and continue to stir and simmer for an hour. Rinse and wash with detergent.
As for me, I'll have to make one final decision on these pants:
(a) Get rid of them;
(b) Cut into shorts; or
(c) Re-dye navy or black, but this time I'll have Dad handle the process entirely and I'll watch from the sidelines. LOL.
These pants are turning out to be way more work than I had anticipated. Any suggestions as to what I should do?
4 comments:
Wow, dying clothes is a brave project! I think these pants turned out great, though. To be honest I can't even tell where the rust stain is. But I think you should cut them into shorts and if you must do anything else to them. It's the cheaper, simpler,and more fool-proof than dying again (because who knows what a dying over a dye might do!) and like you said, you've already but too much work into them to just trash them!
I honestly do not see any stains. I think you should rock them! :D
That is a beautiful color! Hope your mom wasn't too upset and so awesome that your dad was your sidekick!!! Hope you make a decision. I like the idea of trying to dye them darker, though red shorts would be awesome too!
Sounds like your Dad makes a good DIY project sidekick. :)
I can hardly see the stain in the photos, but I do like the idea of a cute pair of red shorts.
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