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.
- 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
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post.
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).

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.
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.

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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.
This dimming causes the stark difference in the look.



I styled the dyed blazer with my floral print dress. What a difference the blazer makes!

You remember having seen the dyed blazer already? You are right, I wore the dyed blazer with linen pants before.
Photos: G. Kramm, N. Mölders
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