Those of you who follow me on Facebook already got a little preview of this project. Well, not so much the actual project – more like what happened to my finger while doing this project.
I’ve been working on my master bedroom update for awhile and have been collecting new stuff for the room over the past few months – new duvet cover, a pretty quilt, curtains, a new trunk for the end of the bed, blah blah blah. Well, all these thing cost money and I was starting to feel like this project was adding up to WAY more than I wanted (I haven’t actually totaled everything yet, I was just getting that feeling).
So, when I started shopping around for new sheets and realized that I couldn’t find exactly the color I imagined in my head AND they were all super expensive, I decided to get a little crafty.
I already had a pair of flannel sheets that were super worn and comfy, but they were kind of an ugly light green color. I’ve never actually dyed anything before (besides my hair and tye-dying stuff at Girl Scout camp), so I was a bit apprehensive about dying my sheets. It just seemed like a great big pain in the keister while also being quite messy.
I put on my big girl pants and decided to do it and I’m kind of mixed on the results.
First, here’s my step-by-step of what I did:
So, yay — I saved money and dyed my own sheets. I kind of half-way followed the directions on the Rit bottle, but looking back I probably should have bought a couple more bottles of dye to throw in there. I really wanted a more vibrant blue color… kind of like the shade of blue they were before I washed all the dye out. Of course, who knows if the sheets would have even sucked in more dye if it had been added.
All in all, I’m not really going to call this little project a “win”, more like a “eh..better than they were before”. In person, they do look like a pretty faded blue, rather than a dumpy pissy green. So, I can’t really complain too much — I spent around $8 and it took less than 30 minutes of my time.
How about you, have you dyed anything instead of buying new?
PS. If you haven’t completed my quick one question survey (and entered to win something AWESOME), please take a minute to click here.
Yeah so my OCD husband turtle waxes the kitchen sink and lectures me on water spots. I can’t even imagine the conniption fit he’d have if I tried to DYE anything in the house. Good heavens. I once tried to fabric dye a white plastic bird (it was spray dye) so I could make a Carrie Bradshaw veil for my SIL’s bachelorette party. I gave up and used a peacock feather. The bird was atrocious.
Yeah, even though I have the ugly green bathtub to use I still did the main dying in that rubbermaid container. Apparently you can dye in your washing machine, but there is NO WAY I’m putting blue dye in my brand new washer!!
I would so get the colour everywhere if I attempted this, I’m way too clumsy… Agreed though that the blue while they were soaked would look amazing! Maybe just dye them a few more times until they’re the colour you want??
I was totally thinking of trying to just layer on dye a couple more times, but then I decided that I’m just too lazy to redo the process. As it is, I was super surprised that I didn’t end up with blue grout! =)
Because the sheets were already dyed one color they may never dye a darker blue. The fibers can only hold so much dye. It may have helped to dye on your stove…the hotter the water the more the fibers relax and become porous. The green color may also be dulling your blue.
And one more dying thing….your color always looks brighter when wet. When I dye fabric I leave it in the dye bath longer than I think I need…between rinsing and drying you can lose much of your intensity.
if you do attempt dying in your washer. follow up with an empty bleach wash!
I love dying fabric!
Thank you so much for the hints! After living with the sheets for a week or so, I now kind of love the color they turned out. I still have two bottles of teal dye though, so now I need to figure out something else to color…
Dying is very addictive! =)
For a brief time… I had very little white things left, because I kept dying them colors.