Adventures with DIY dyeing

I was determined not to buy Kobe a new school hat to replace his faded hat from last year, it turned from a navy blue to a faded grey (I blame harsh uv rays from the sun). And a kind friend gave me a Spotlight voucher to use so I bought some fabric dye. I would of loved to experiment with dyeing with nature but unfortunately nothing is naturally blue, the closest I could think of is blueberries which is purple which isn't the school colour ( Although I could easy dye my clothes with spaghetti, I could just put it on Dylan then feed him lol).

So I settled on Rite dye in a navy blue. I found a couple pieces of stained clothing that could also be frreshened up with a new colour. I love the shorts, the cut is so abstract, it's just a pity Kobe had a blood nose & wiped his nose straight on them. The white shirts had stains on them.

Dyeing wasn't as easy as I first thought & I'm not sure if I will attempt this ever again. Even though I may redye the shorts if I do another attempt.

I'm lucky I had a stock pot which I use to mix diy laundry powder which I could use to soak the clothes in. I had to sacrifice a bowl to mix the dye in hot water before it goes in the stockpot.

Another thing I had to buy was plastic gloves, which I have washed & will reuse as cleaning gloves to get more use out of them. I had some elastic bands (from vegetables like baby carrots & broccolini) which I tied to the shirts to get the tie dye effect.

I stuffed way too many things in the stock pot & didn't stir enough so the dye came out unevenly which was ok with the tie dye as it was that effect anyway. The hat miraculously turned out ok. The shorts I was hoping were going to be an even colour but were patchy:(

The packet instructions said to wash under warm to cold water the excess dye but instead I washed outfront with hose quickly then left in rain to wash out excess dye.

I worried if sweated the dye would leach onto skin but so far in this heat, no blue stains on the skin.

According to here, the carbon footprint of a t-shirt is 20 times that of its weight. Considering how much resources it takes to make a new garment; taking into account water to grow crops, energy to manufacture t-shirt & fuel to transport a cotton garment. It was more sustainable to dye these items then buy new. It will be even better if I could naturally dye them. The dye chemical ingredients were sodium chloride, anionic & nonionic surfactants & I have a tiny patch in the garden that I poured the excess chemicals onto. Its where I also pour the oils/fats from the kitchen & dirty water from soaking nappies, I did not pour to pour these into the drain). I shall be experimenting with more stained clothing in the future dyeing naturally with coloured flowers & anything of colour I find in nature.

I would love to hear your dyeing/upcycling stories.

Happy Sunday friends!
Grace