This post is in response to the requests of several readers for a tutorial on how to dye printed clothes. A floral blazer serves as an example for illustration of the process and concept including a free infographic on dyeing cotton prints.

Contents

White Clothes Are the Easiest to Dye
How to Dye Printed Clothes?
Use a Stainless Steel Pot
How to Decide on What Color to Use?
Stir Regularly for Equal Color Uptake
Set the Color with Vinegar When Dyeing Printed Clothes
Care Instructions for DIY Dyed Garments
Styling the Dyed Blazer

Updated 7/22/2022

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White Clothes Are the Easiest to Dye

When you are a regular reader you know that I dyed a lot of sweaters and cardigans last winter. It was one of those years, when I could not find a sweater or cardigan in a color that worked for me. You know there are these years where all pieces have colors that are not flattering on you. In those years, I often buy an item in white already with the intend to dye it. Thanks goodness, in craft stores, the dyes are independent of what Pantone dictates as the colors of the year. Consequently, you can get a new item in one of the fashion or neutral colors by DIY dyeing. Dyeing has a long history in fashion.

How To Dye Printed Clothes?

Here I share how I dyed my floral summer blazer. I wanted to change to a deep, darker color. First, I checked the percentage of natural material as any synthetics are hard to dye in a predictable way (see linen of the blazer later in this post).

Floral blazer prior to dyeing — Notations floral blazer before dyeing with L.K. Bennett wedge patent leather pumps, Oliveo striped leather skirt, Esprit bag, Hermes collier de chien cuff, August Silk top

How to Decide on What Color to Use?

Decide on what you want to achieve color-wise. In other words, you have to consider how the existing colors will look like when dyed with that color (see the infographic for a broad idea of color mixing on prints with different dyes.

infographic showing approximate results of print color after dyeing

My idea was to go for a more muted and darker version than it was before. Note that when you want to go lighter you will first have to remove the old color. There are color removers in craft stores. I was thinking about navy blue, which would have led to a blue background with purple, brown, green and hunter green florals. This color combination would have just gone with the denim or black pieces in my closet. Therefore, I decided for burgundy, which I hoped would lead to some dark burned orange, purple, black, and dark brown pattern on a burgundy background.

how to dye printed clothes preparation of large pot with Rit dye — Large pot with Rit dye

Use a Stainless Steel Pot

You need a stainless steel pot as plastic, wood, and enamel take up color. I put one package of burgundy dye into a huge 1.5-gallon-size pot on the stove (Photo above). I can’t tell which brand is the best as I never used anything other than Rite. Note it is the only dye you can get in Fairbanks. I filled the pot 2/3 with water and dissolved the dye by stirring (Photo below).

burgundy dying solution in steel pot — Heating the dye solution to the highest temperature that the garment can take without shrinking.

Since any chemical reaction increase with temperature, I heated the solution to the highest temperature at which one can wash the blazer. Then I put the blazer into the solution (Photo below).

putting a floral print blazer into the dye solution — The floral blazer that is to be dyed burgundy is put into the dye. Make sure the piece takes up the dye evenly by occasional stirring.

Stir Regularly for Equal Color Uptake

The package gives a time how long to keep the fabric in the dye. It is important to turn the fabric around once in a while to obtain an even uptake of the color. I always try to keep the temperature constant. I had the blazer in the color bath for nearly two hours. The photo below shows the color uptake after 10 minutes.

dyeing printed clothes after 10 min — Blazer after being in the dye for 10 minutes. At this time, the background that was white, has turned pink. The print has taken up some color as well, but most original colors are still recognizable. This means you can check for the color-uptake, and take the item out before it has the intended color, when you like what you see, for instance, a pink background.

Set the Color with Vinegar When Dyeing Printed Clothes

Once I was happy with the color uptake, I rinsed the blazer until the water ran clear. Then I set the dye with half a liter of vinegar.

When dyeing cotton, set the color with vinegar. #DIY #dyeing Click To Tweet

The photo below shows how the water-vinegar mix turns pink again.

#DIY dyed blazer in acid to set color — Dyed blazer in acid solution to set the color. I used white vinegar that I bought at Sam’s Club. Note that I also use this vinegar for pickling and cleaning.

After 30 minutes in the acid, I rinsed the garment again until the water became clear. I hung the piece in the garage as I don’t mind when the concrete takes up some color.

Note that the dye also dyes enamel and plastic. Do I have to say that it also colors your skin? Thus, only use stainless steal items in the coloring process and avoid to get into contact with the dye.

drip drying the dyed blazer — Drip drying the dyed blazer. The formerly white polyester lining turned pink in the dying process because it is polyester. Note that polyester barely takes up Rit dye. Make sure that you cover the floor so you won’t get discoloring. A plastic trash bag covered with old newspapers or kitchen paper towels to take up the drip water works well.

Care Instructions for DIY Dyed Garments

As with all dark or dyed clothes, there may be some color rub off. Think of a dark new pair of jeans. Thus, do not hang the dyed item aside of something light. The same applies for wearing until you are 100% sure that there is no color rub up anymore.

When washing the dyed item, wash it separately. Add vinegar to the soap-water mix to set the color.

Styling the Dyed Blazer

The photos below feature how the jacket looked like after the coloring. Its vibe changed from girly, fun casual to posh. The burgundy dimmed the contrast of the colors in the print down.