I really am not a huge fan of white pants regardless of whether it is before, after or during Memorial Day. Khaki I do not mind, but I much prefer jeans or colored pants. Somewhere along the way I had acquired a pair of white capris & a pair of white board shorts. I had wore the shorts MAYBE once or twice & worn the capris only a few more times. I really liked the way they fit but white is just such a pain to wear. Under garments are an issue & so is worrying about spilling stuff on yourself, what you may sit on, & pretty much just walking around on egg shells that the world will soil your whiteness.
I just could not bring myself to donate clothing that fit me so well just because I was unhappy with the color. I had read a few posts about people using Rit dye so I thought maybe I would give that a try. I knew the worst that could happen is the dye would ruin the clothing & I would still be able to donate it or use it for material or something.
Since Ben was mid-video game I ran out to Hobby Lobby to see what colors they had in stock. I considered green, navy & some brighter colors, but I decided black would be the safest bet. That way it would be an all or nothing sort of dealie. That & if the color did not “stick” I figured I would most likely be able to live with any shade of gray that resulted.
For the most part, I followed the directions – sort of. I did a combination of the stovetop & bucket methods. I warmed up a bunch of water on the stove & dumped it in a bucket so it was nice & hot. I soaked a shirt for about 8 minutes. I soaked the shorts for more like 12. & the capris I let soak for right around 2o minutes.
the set up - bucket, cardboard box lined with garbage bag & plastic bag turned "glove"
the directions - when paper is not enough, there is always the internet
the mess of darkness
The directions say to wear gloves, but since I did not have any of those, I just put my hand/arm into a plastic bag & used that to stir everything around.
my hands survived fairly well
my fingernails were not as lucky
Here is how they turned out:
After washing in warm water & drying, here is how they looked. It is sort of difficult to see by this picture (taken at night & with terrible low lighting & on our blue/gray couch), but the color is sort of blackish, grayish, with maybe a hint of violetiness. I will have to get a picture of them on so you can actually see what the color looks like in daylight.
The neat thing about dye is that it does not always adhere to the thread used in a garment. As you can see in the capris (on the left) that means that you can see the white thread even though the cotton fabric is no longer white. It does make for a neat effect. (Yeah I meant to do that, sure did, this was not just a cool mistake, no way….)
Side note: if you have the ability to do this outside it is very much recommended. I was absolutely TERRIFIED every single second. Maybe it was just because it was black dye. Probably not though. It just is so super permanent & we have so maybe surfaces I did not want a drop to fall on.
Overall I would say dye = awesome. I will most certainly be trying it again. I might let whatever I dye sit a bit longer so maybe it will absorb a little more of the coloring.
P.S.- dye is soooooo much easier than sewing. If you have something that needs a little refresher I absolutely recommend you try to dye it!!
You can see the peppers through the cheese…. yummmmm. 
