how to dye your fabric

so, regarding the prom night that I'm going to attend, I have decided to design a prom dress for me and fortunately, my mom agreed and she is helping me with what I need. :)

I have designed the dress, bought the fabric and dyed them. and now I'm going to share to you how it went. I hope you like it ;)

you can dye generally anything, from a newly bought piece of cloth or even your old t-shirt or boxer. note that only organic materials can be dyed. polyesters can't. mine is actually silk wrinkled chiffon. i'm going to make a gradation of blue-green-yellow so here it goes.

what do you need?
rafia rope, a plastic washbowl, a saucepan, dye (DYLON, it's only $1 each), table salt, water, and a screwdriver.


How to do it?
(a) boil enough water in the saucepan.
(b) soak the fabric in a cold water in the washbowl.
(c) make a small hole on the Dylon tin wtih a screwdriver. don't try to turn the lid.
(d) if you want to put more than one color, tie a part of the fabric with the rafia rope TIGHTLY.
(e) when the water in (a) is boiling, add some salt to it.
(f) add some of the dye to the boiling water. if you want to have bolder color, add more. and it is important to dissolve the dye well first.
(g) squeeze the fabric in (d).
(h) soak the fabric in boiling water after the dye is put in, for some time. the longer it is, the bolder the color will be. in this case I want to make it sheer, so I only needed something like 3 minutes.
(i) look at step 1,2 and 3 on the images below for clearer explanation. (I explain better with images rather than words ;) )
(j) open the tie and dry fabric in the sun.

BEFORE :a piece of cloth

ADD THESE :

dye



AFTER :

FYI, I wasn't doing all of these alone, I was helped by one of the designers in my mom's office. Thanks cece Leeyah!
now if you want to try these steps to your faded tees or cardigans, just do it! if you are bored with the colors of your clothes, now you can replace them with new colors. ;)

good luck people!
XOXO
Janice