Re-fashion: an amazing trick
I love to dye things, and over the years I've found out that certain dyes work way better than others. Even within one brand, some colors work great, and others, not so much. For instance, black and brown are always tricky – on any natural fiber except wool or cashmere, they tend to end up way too red. Still, I dye a lot of things brown. It's one of my favorite colors.
So I have this dress I made several years ago out of yellow flowered cotton that I dyed with Rit cocoa brown. It looked great for awhile but over time the color has faded until the dress was a weird almost mauve-ish shade. I kept thinking I would just dye it again with a different brown – one of these years I want to use the walnut hulls from our tree, since I know they stain everything they touch – but so far I hadn't gotten around to doing it. It's gone sort of limp and baggy with washing, so I don't wear it anymore except around the house. On the other hand I was not ready to put it in the rag bag yet, either.
So I went to the art store to pick up some new dye and happened to notice a product I'd seen before but never considered: "color remover." Interesting! What if instead of being forced to overdye the dress a different and darker shade of brown, I was able to remove the dye I'd already put on it, and start over from scratch? I didn't really expect it to work, but figured it was worth an experiment.
The results amazed me. It really did remove pretty much all of the dye! It's no longer a faded purplish-brown, but a warm, buttery yellow with pale peach and brown flowers. The original colors were not damaged or changed at all. I'm wearing it right now and it's almost like having a brand new dress. Cool!
Except for the dark brown thread, and the fact that I don't do much yellow, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Probably I'll wear it this way for awhile and then dye it some other color. Maybe orange – or green! As for the thread, it's not worth it to me to take it all apart and sew it up again with a different color, but I might go over some of the more visible seams with some embroidery or decorative machine stitching. That could be fun.
So I have this dress I made several years ago out of yellow flowered cotton that I dyed with Rit cocoa brown. It looked great for awhile but over time the color has faded until the dress was a weird almost mauve-ish shade. I kept thinking I would just dye it again with a different brown – one of these years I want to use the walnut hulls from our tree, since I know they stain everything they touch – but so far I hadn't gotten around to doing it. It's gone sort of limp and baggy with washing, so I don't wear it anymore except around the house. On the other hand I was not ready to put it in the rag bag yet, either.
So I went to the art store to pick up some new dye and happened to notice a product I'd seen before but never considered: "color remover." Interesting! What if instead of being forced to overdye the dress a different and darker shade of brown, I was able to remove the dye I'd already put on it, and start over from scratch? I didn't really expect it to work, but figured it was worth an experiment.
The results amazed me. It really did remove pretty much all of the dye! It's no longer a faded purplish-brown, but a warm, buttery yellow with pale peach and brown flowers. The original colors were not damaged or changed at all. I'm wearing it right now and it's almost like having a brand new dress. Cool!
Except for the dark brown thread, and the fact that I don't do much yellow, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Probably I'll wear it this way for awhile and then dye it some other color. Maybe orange – or green! As for the thread, it's not worth it to me to take it all apart and sew it up again with a different color, but I might go over some of the more visible seams with some embroidery or decorative machine stitching. That could be fun.
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