Dyed and Overdyed

(Same outfit, two different camera settings... the true color is somewhere between the two.)

I'm finally getting around to posting the fruits of my recent overdying labors, in answer to Kasmira's March recession challenge. I wore two overdyed pieces today.

First up, there's this jacket:


In a February post, I asked for opinions on what color I should dye it. Kasmira suggested a black/blue, and that was my back-up plan if a first attempt at a brighter color turned mucky.


One packet of tangerine Rit, some salt, and a large pot of steaming-hot water later, I've got myself a jacket that feels new to me. Even the buttons soaked up the dye! After stirring it in the nearly-boiling dye bath for a while, I machine-laundered it in cold water with regular detergent and a smidge of Synthrapol, which should have gotten rid of any residual dye, and will hopefully prevent the color from staining anything I wear with it.


I am thrilled with how the color turned out. I was hoping for a rich, deep rust-like shade. Since the jacket already had some red in it (pink being a very dilute version of red), I was hoping that the bright orange overdye would be partly subdued by it, and also would hang on to some red undertones rather than going toward yellow. I thought I might then have to overdye it with some dilute red to bring it further away from yellow, or with some dilute blue if it was too intensely orange (blue being the compliment of orange, a dilute overdye in it would reduce the orange's intensity). But my hoped-for color is exactly what came out on the first try.

Then, there's this blouse.


I actually have it in two sizes, which probably sounds silly, but I used one for ensembles that required a very snug-fitting shirt (such as under a sweater), and the other for when I wanted a looser look. I swear, this is the only duplicate of anything that I have in two different sizes!

They have been getting dingy over time, and rather than do another brightening/whitening treatment, I decided to dye them. Technically, this is not overdying, since to overdye something, you must layer one color over another color. But it has green stripes, and they got overdyed while the white was dyed, so I guess technically, it counts!


It absorbed so much more dye than I was expecting it would. Which is great, because I was worried about it turning out like dusty pink (don't really want to go there again).


I love this red-violet color that resulted, and I also like how the green stripes turned brown. This happened because red and green are complimentary colors, and when one is blended into the other, it turns toward brown.


I used a more diluted pot of blue, denim blue I think, for the other top.


I like them both so much more than the plain 'ol white that they were before! Hooray for dying and overdying!



Headband: just a fabric scrap.
Earrings and necklace: Burlington Coat Factory.
Blouse: Burlington Coat Factory.
Jacket: H&M.
Skirt: Strawbridges.
Boots: Appepazza.