Color me impressed

I had no idea the color would be so vibrant!  I’m guessing that’s what happens when you actually follow the instructions that comes with the dye .

All of my previous experience with dye has been pretty much a matter of throwing the garments in a dye bucket, swirling it around now and then, maybe switching it to a different color somewhere in the middle of the process, dumping the fixative in all at once with no regard to whether it touched the clothes directly, etc.  I’ve always liked the mottled results I got with that process, and the experimental aspect of it is fun, but in this case I distinctly did not want that look.  I didn’t want it to scream “homemade.”

So this time I put the skirt in a bucket all by itself, with adequate water around it.  I stirred faithfully, and added the fixative gradually to the dye bath, being careful to hold the skirt out of the way.  It took more of my attention to do it this way, but I am so pleased with the results!  Pleased as punch, in fact.  I am so pleased that I am considering a trip to the thrift shop to look for some boring gray pants that I can jazz up.  Last time I was there, I was looking for colored jeans, but they didn’t have anything that grabbed me.  Now, suddenly, I’m confident that I can make my own, in whatever color I happen to want.  And I can dye a white t-shirt to go with it, for that matter.  Now that is cool.

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Categories: dyeing, show and tell