How to dye denim

The jeans and crochet top were dyed black

I love, love dark wash denim. What’s not to love? It is a close sister to black in the slimming stakes and it looks a whole lot classier than it’s lighter coloured cousin. So what to do if you have regular or light coloured denim but crave a dark wash look? Easy . . .  dye your jeans.

Home dying is one way. Diesel have created a mud stained effect on their jeans. Mmmm, I’m not sure about that one. You could use fabric dye to get the same effect on your jeans. I would splash my jeans with strong tea to get that particular look.

If light wash denim is your thing well then reverse the dyeing process by using a dye stripper or a bleach. Have a look at what this DIY blogger did – how to fade dye a shirt.

If you can master tie dye then you can also give your clothes a bit of hippie chic. I prefer to use fabric paint to achieve a tie dye effect. See this post – using fabric paint and tea to create tie dye effects.

Home dyes come in a range of really exciting colours. You might recall when I dyed a waistcoat lime green, see this post – how to dye a waistcoat lime green. Now that’s an easy way to get some acid brights into your wardrobe.

Our local laundry offers dyeing for their customers and many do. So, if you are fearful of an almighty flop then leave it to the professionals to do the job.
And dying doesn’t stop at jeans or clothes. Got a pair of scuffed shoes that you love to wear? Dye them too. I did a post on shoe dying a while back – how to dye a pair of shoes.

Quite frankly there is no need to turf anything out when the possibilities to recycle or restyle your clothes are positively endless. And it’s so much fun.

Here are three older posts in which I revamped old jeans.

It is beyond easy to make denim shorts from an old pair of jeans – how to make cut off denim shorts. If you are partial to distressed denim then haul out the hardware and follow this post – how to distress your jeans.

And finally if you bought one too many pairs of boot cut jeans and can’t get enough of your skinny leg jeans, all is not lost. Take in the seam of your boot cut jeans to make skinny leg jeans. I showed how in this post – how to take in the leg seam to make skinny leg jeans.

To find all the older and newer DIYs together scroll back up to the top of this page to the Greenie Galleries. You will find FREE sewing patterns, sewing tutorials and crafting ideas to help DIY instead of buying.

Have a great green week. See you in 7 days.

Greenie.