People dye jeans for different reasons. Some dye them to revive the new look their jeans once had. Some dye their jeans to try and cover up some problem with the jeans like a stain or bleach spot. Some dye their jeans to get the exact color of jeans that they want and others dye in unique ways for cool effects.
- Dyeing is messy and the mess is pretty much permanent, it is dye after all. That's why I like the bucket method of dyeing.
- When you dye jeans, everything gets dyed including the stitching. Stitching on jeans is generally yellow, although it does come in other colors. You may or may not have noticed the stitching on your jeans, but it is really a major part of the look of the jeans.
The exception is polyester thread, which is not the norm on jeans. Most jeans use cotton thread, but it's good to know if you routinely hem or alter your jeans, stick with cotton thread so your alterations won't show up after dyeing. - The dye will look darker when wet and until after it has been washed the first time. The final outcome will be lighter.
- The make up of the fabric of the jeans will affect the final outcome. The more cotton and less synthetic fibers (polyester, spandex) used in the fabric, the better it will take to the dye.
- If you have never dyed jeans before, I wouldn't recommend starting with your favorite pair. If you have an old pair to test your process on, you can make adjustments before dyeing a pair you really care about.
- If at first you don't succeed, try again.
If the result you get is too light you can either dye them with the same color again, or even add a little black to the dye if you want the color to go really dark.
If the color is off, you can dye them with a different color to try and tone down the unwanted shade.
Here are the steps per the RIT Dye website, other dyes may need to be done differently.
- Fill sink or bucket with enough hot water for fabric to move freely. Remember: Use 1 package of RIT powder or 1/2 bottle of RIT liquid dye and 3 gallons of hot water for each pound of fabric. Pre-dissolve powder in 2 cups of hot water. Add pre-dissolved powder or liquid to dye bath. Stir to mix.
- Wet fabric in hot water. Uncrumple and add to dye bath.
- Stir constantly (back and forth, up and down) for 10 to 30 minutes.
- Rinse in warm water, then gradually cooler water until water runs clear. Wash item in warm water with mild detergent and rinse thoroughly in cool water.
- Dry item in dryer or air dry.
- Clean sink or bucket immediately with chlorine bleach or scrub with chlorine-based powder, liquid, or gel cleanser.
I am really interested in hearing what experiences others have had with dyeing their jeans. Are there any secrets or tricks that make the process easier, or work better? Are there particular color combinations that create really great effects? Any disaster stories or humorous stories that you can tell about dyeing your denim jeans? I'd love to hear from you...
I did it with the RIT liquid navy blue dye and I got a kind of blue grayish color. They look alright, but I was going for a dark dark color, so I am going to re-dye it with a suggestion I saw on Yahoo answers- 1 package or RIT navy blue, 1 package of indigo and 1 package of black. Make sure to add salt and keep the water HOT!
ReplyDeleteCer, did the above formula end up making the jeans darker? (I'm considering dying a pair of my own jeans and would like them to be darker.)
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI found your How to Dye very useful!
I bought this denim jacket:
http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/3306/cfwn4.jpg
Being white I wanted to dye it black so a friend told me it was very easy she could do it right away. I don't know what she did but it turned out like this:
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/442/p1050071.jpg
Grey... and not even homogeneus. Then I thought I'd do it myself so I found your post and bought the RIT dye.
It was very easy and the result is really great!
I had to dye it twice though, this fabric absorbs much dye.
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6180/p1070179.jpg
The only problem is, the stitching didn't get dyed, and I'd like it black too. Do you know how to dye the stitching too?
Thank you so much for the fantastic help!
Love the look of the jacket! The only thought I have for the stitching is a sharpie marker. Although, I feel with the lighter blue color it might be hard to have it not show on the fabric. I've used a sharpie on black or dark blue items to cover the stitching and it's worked well. Maybe you can find a sharpie in a close enough color?
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI just bought a pair of jeans off ebay and didnt notice that they had some rather contrasting distress marks down the front. I want to either darken the jeans or reduce the contrasting nature of the distress marks. Thanks!
thanks, going ot try :)
ReplyDeleteI just finished sewing up a dress made from 3 pairs of jeans - one was a very faded blue and the other two were mid to dark blue. The faded blue part had a big pocket-sized patch on it where I'd removed the back pocket, and was quite a bit darker than the surrounding area (but lighter than the parts made form the darker jeans). I used white thread for the top-stitching.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, after dyeing the dress in navy blue and putting it through the wash, I noticed that all the thread stayed white - which was not so good because I'd hoped that the dye job would make the wonky stitches stand out less. And now they stand out more! Also, the patch-pocket area is still quite a bit darker than the surrounding fabric. So, though my main aim was to even out the colour across the whole garment, this didn't quite happen. I still like it though, I'll just have to spend some time tidying up my stitches...
You probably used polyester thread, which doesn't take dye in.
DeleteI've used the RIT denim dye and they came out lavender... I will have to try the combinations given at the top of this page!
ReplyDeleteI think it's because Indigo does have a purple undertone, I'm thinking that if an Indigo dye leaves you with lavender or purple, that you might want to leave the Indigo dye out of the equation and just use the black and Navy Blue. But, only if you want a dark, dark, denim result.
DeleteThe stitches don't dye because they are polyester not cotton. Cotton thread will dye, polyester won't. Most ready made clothes are sewn with Polyester thread and it usually won't dye.
ReplyDeleteI just used a bottle of black writing ink, still waiting to see the results..
ReplyDelete:P
ReplyDeletevery good method to dye a pair of trousers! I always try to dye them and never look good on me .. or the week fade me! thanks for the information!
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice method! I would love to try it to mu old jeans! Thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteWhat if you wanted to dye some blue denim fabric say...red? or green?
ReplyDeleteI assume you'd need to bleach out the blue before you add the new colour. Is that right and how would you do it? just with standard bleach? or is there some other way?
(I'm not worried about the stiches as I plan to just use the fabric from old jeans to made new garments...)
Thanks
Matt
There is a Rit product called Rit Fabric Dye Remover. It should remove or lighten the jeans enough to take another color. I would imagine that it might take two dyes to get them fully the red or green or other color that you want. It's a great idea and I think I might try it with a pair of my daughter's jeans. Thanks!
DeleteYou can find a link to the Rit Fabric Dye Remover at: http://www.jeanshub.com/JeansCare-BleachSpot.aspx
hey i have a denim jacket that has some spots faded can i use rit dye to redye it with the denim blue color because i see the front pockets and if you lift them up you can see the true color its got
ReplyDeleteIt should work great for that! Let us know if you try, how it came out.
Deletethat was so interesting after reading it just want to say that thanks
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna see if my folks will let me do this. Just changed a pair of slumpy flare jeans into skinny...did great, but was not accounting for the faded thighs HA! sounds like a good plan! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI want to change a sky blue denim to a more grungy denim color. What color dye? Green? Brown? Cold water dye from the fabric store works way better than RIT. It's called DYLON.
ReplyDeleteI dyed a light blue denim jacket with idye black. The result was a dark purple...if i dry it and give it another go would this turn it black?? i dont mind how dark it is...i just wish that purple tint to go away...any help please!
ReplyDeleteIndigo can have a lot of purple undertones and it sounds like the denim is soaking up the dye. I think another round of black dye would most likely overcome the purple.
Deletewhat can you do with jeans when the dye wears off on to your skin and hands?
ReplyDeleteIf you wear gloves and wash it properly before wear, it won't rub off onto your skin. Unless of course, you swim in it.
DeleteI'm generally very careful to use gloves and keep it contained to what I can easily clean or throw away when I'm finished. I would think that LAVA hand soap would be the most likely to get if off skin though.
DeleteThank you for sharing these easy to follow instructions!
ReplyDeleteHave a super day. I'm sure they would be so interesting! thanks for your creative work done by you.
ReplyDeleteHi! I have an old denim jacket that I would like to dye dark green, but I would like to dye the accents where the stitching is black... Any suggestions? The jacket is sort of light blue now...
ReplyDeleteI have a pair of black denim jeans with some bleach spots on them. Will black dye cover the bleach spots?
ReplyDeleteIt is my great pleasure to visit your website and to enjoy your great post here. I like it very much. I know that you put much attention for these articles, as all of them make sense and are very useful.
ReplyDelete