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.