Fun Fact:
If you don't have any car-washing soap, dish washing soap (not the actually soap for the dishwasher, but the soap you use to hand wash dishes) is gentle enough to use if you need to wash your car (or in my case, wash off the smudge marks from the roommate pressing her face against the outside of my window).
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Black is Back
Project Proposition:
Dyeing my faded corporate, cotton-blend pants back to black.
My Thinking:
Google dying clothes, see how much effort and how big of a mess I can make. I find that clothing dye is actually easy to find at many different grocery stores, pharmacies, etc. I stumble upon a brand of clothing dye called Rit (it comes in either powder form or liquid and I opted for the liquid).
Dyeing without Dying [threat of an angry roommate]:
In order to avoid a mess and turning the rest of my apartment black, I bought rubber gloves and set up my handy-dandy plastic car washing bucket in the kitchen sink. I also grabbed a plastic hanger from my closet.
I let my pants soak in the a rinse cycle in the washer and proceed to throw them in the plastic bucket. I put on my rubber gloves and followed the instructions on the back of the liquid Rit bottle (I used about half a bottle). The directions call for constant movement of the clothing sitting in the dye, this is why I grabbed a hanger- to stir things up- and so I wouldn't have to put my rubber gloved hand at the bottom of the bucket (potential for spattering or dripping, and so on).
After about 30-45 minutes, I took the bucket outside to dump the dye solution because I was apprehensive about putting it down the drain. I threw my pants back in the washer and washed them on a delicate cycle in cold water.
Success...sort of:
The pants came out very dark and looked great even after a good iron. However, the pants were not back to their original black color, but they looked better than before.
For Future References:
You'd be better off buying a pair of pants that don't have a high cotton content if they are made out of blended material. My pants are from express, they fit perfect, however I was a little disappointed with the color quality.
Dyeing my faded corporate, cotton-blend pants back to black.
My Thinking:
Google dying clothes, see how much effort and how big of a mess I can make. I find that clothing dye is actually easy to find at many different grocery stores, pharmacies, etc. I stumble upon a brand of clothing dye called Rit (it comes in either powder form or liquid and I opted for the liquid).
Dyeing without Dying [threat of an angry roommate]:
In order to avoid a mess and turning the rest of my apartment black, I bought rubber gloves and set up my handy-dandy plastic car washing bucket in the kitchen sink. I also grabbed a plastic hanger from my closet.
I let my pants soak in the a rinse cycle in the washer and proceed to throw them in the plastic bucket. I put on my rubber gloves and followed the instructions on the back of the liquid Rit bottle (I used about half a bottle). The directions call for constant movement of the clothing sitting in the dye, this is why I grabbed a hanger- to stir things up- and so I wouldn't have to put my rubber gloved hand at the bottom of the bucket (potential for spattering or dripping, and so on).
After about 30-45 minutes, I took the bucket outside to dump the dye solution because I was apprehensive about putting it down the drain. I threw my pants back in the washer and washed them on a delicate cycle in cold water.
Success...sort of:
The pants came out very dark and looked great even after a good iron. However, the pants were not back to their original black color, but they looked better than before.
For Future References:
You'd be better off buying a pair of pants that don't have a high cotton content if they are made out of blended material. My pants are from express, they fit perfect, however I was a little disappointed with the color quality.
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