Wednesday, February 11, 2009

What color should I overdye this jacket?

I overdyed this jacket from a pale greyish-pink to its current rosey-pink shortly after I bought it. The rosey-pink color is brighter than it looks here (darned camera). Funny how the camera makes it look more like the original color.

I have worn and washed it a number of times over the few years since then, and the color has started to fade, so I've been thinking of overdyeing it again (that's why I haven't bothered to press it lately). But I am thinking I might wear it more if it is a deeper and/or brighter color.

To keep the color bright, I will have to stay on the side of the color wheel that is furthest from green - so reds, oranges, pinks, purples, and maybe blues are my best options. Since green is the compliment of red (of which pink is a very dilute mixture), if I overdyed it with green, then the color would come out muddy and dull. If I really wanted to go toward green or yellow, I could first treat it with Rit color-remover and then dye it. But it's an extra step, an extra expense, an extra abuse to the jacket's structural integrity, and that product is terribly caustic, so I avoid it except when necessary. I have minor residual lung damage from a time when I used it with less-than-responsible precautions once during my grad student years. We think we're so invicible, don't we?

It's all cotton except for a teensy bit of spandex, so it should take color pretty well. Any suggestions? I'd love to get some input, especially from the bloggers I think of as my styling muses who have so graciously posted comments on this little start-up blog of mine in recent weeks. You have made me feel like I'm part of an online blogging community. It's a warm and fuzzy feeling!

Oh, and Jacket: H&M.

1 comment:

  1. Oooh, I think a black/blue would look great! One package of black and one of indigo dye in the dye bath.

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