Wednesday, March 23, 2011

How To Dye Your Faded Black Jeans

This is a super simple way to bring life back into your favorite faded jeans. They will look brand new in just an hour, the same amount amount of time it would take you to head on down to mall and pick out a new pair! And all that for just $3! You'll need a large stainless steel pot, rubber gloves, something to stir with and one hour of time. Some stainless steel tongs will work well and won't absorb any color, like say a, wooden spoon would. I might suggest covering your counters or back splash with newspaper. I didn't, but if I had grout, I would consider it.

Start with an 8 ounce bottle of Rit Dye. Shake well.

Next, fill your pot with water 3/4 of the way full.
 Heat to boiling.
Once water boils, add your dye. You may add a little water to the bottle, return the lid and vigorously shake to loosen any excess dye. Add to water in the pot.
Once your color water begins to boil, take your jeans to the sink and completely saturate them in water.

Squeeze them out and transfer to the boiling water.

Stir, turn, and flip so that the jeans have been well coated by the dyed water. Turn off heat. I have an electric stove so I just left the pot on the warm burner.
Stir pretty constantly for about 10-15 minutes.

After you have stirred for 10 minutes, you can leave it to soak and stir every 5 minutes for the next 20 minutes. When you are not stirring, make sure the jeans are completely submerged in the water. Then stir every 10 minutes for the next half an hour. The total amount of time you keep the jeans in the pot of water is 1 hour. 

After the hour is up, wearing gloves, dump it all into the sink and rinse (in cold water) jeans as well as you possibly can. Then, transfer to your washing machine. If you have a rinse and spin only cycle, run them through that a couple times. Finally, run them through an entire wash cycle with soap. Make sure to rinse and wash them in cold water. Dry them inside out.

Granted, I took these two photos in different lighting, but you can see there was a significant difference. They really do look brand new now! For more resources check out tips from the Rit website here and here.
This is not a sponsored post.
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11 comments:

Megan said...

Oh wow, they look so great!!

Kori said...

I have to try this! Have a great day honey!

Did you hear my good news yesterday? Kori xoxo

http://www.blondeepisodes.com/2011/03/wordless-wednesday-and-great-news.html

Brandy J. said...

This is fabulous and practical. Thanks for the awesome tutorial!!!

Kristen said...

O.K., I was just telling somebody about my faded black (now definitely gray) favorite trouser jeans from Talbot's. I am totally going to try this sometime! Dyeing them again never even crossed my mind! Thanks! =)

Kim with a K said...

You have lots of great ideas on your web site!!!
I keep trying to get on with my day and keep coming back to see what else you've done!!!
I just found you and I'm DELIGHTED!!!

Edward Facinelli said...

I'm glad I read this post. Your tips sound so easy and the jeans look so new!! Since vintage clothing is "in", this idea is good for re-using old jeans.

Old Fart said...

Hi there a quick question

if i have a pair of levis will the label on the back of the jeans get dyed black aswell ?

Also does anyone know if levis use cotton or polyester stitching

cheers

Anonymous said...

I like your post about dyeing your black jeans. I have been refreshing the dye in by black jeans for about 10 years. In fact, I have dyed one pair 3 times. Yes, it works great. I use the washing machine. Just remember to follow the tip on the box or bottle of Rit and run an empty load that has bleach, to remove any traces of the dye in the tub. I also dyed a nice pair of blue jeans with denim colored Rit dye. I could still see the white threads in the blue denim fabric, but the blue was darker. It worked great!!!

Unknown said...

Great tutorial, thanks! I have a question - how many jeans can I dye with just one bottle of the dye? Could I dye 2 or 3 pairs in the same pot?

Anonymous said...

How were you able to keep the red stitching from turning black?...look like a black BDG jean

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