Wednesday, January 7, 2009

DIY: Dying a Petticoat

Someone asked, so I thought I'd write a quick post on dying a petticoat. You can occasionally find them online, but it was so cheap and easy to make one, you should just go for it.

Step One: Find a white petticoat. Mine was $5 at the antique mall near my house. There are used ones at thrift stores all over the place. They also sell them various places online and I'm sure bridal shops will sell you one for an insane price.
Step Two: Find dye in your preferred brand/color. I used Rit, because I did the dying on a whim and just walked down the street to my local drugstore and that's what they had.

Step Three: Follow the directions on the box. Seriously. I assume they must be different for every brand. Mine basically told me to wash the item in the washing machine with the dye. You let it sit for a bit at the beginning of the wash cycle. Watch the color in that part--that's where you have control over how intense it gets.

When the petticoat is washing, stop it occasionally to untwist it. Wear gloves or you'll end up with colored hands like I did! If you don't untwist it you'll have a crazy, swirled petticoat.
Step Four: Take the petticoat out and dry it. I dried mine in the drier on a low heat with a towel I didn't care about (in case it was leaking dye at all).

After it was dry, I washed the towel in the washing machine to soak up any remaining dye in the washer.
Initially I was concerned that since most petticoats are polyester, the dye wouldn't take. I actually left it sitting in the dye longer than the box said because of that. And I ended up with a super saturated yellow colored petticoat! So surprisingly (to me at least), Rit will dye cheap poly fabric and netting. The only part that didn't take the dye was the lace at the bottom and the elastic at the waist.

8 comments:

Emily Takes Photos said...

Thanks for sharing this, and I think it worked out perfectly that the lace on the hem didn't take the dye, it looks so dainty next to the yellow.

melissa said...

I just love this idea! What a great burst of color.

Meg said...

Hey-
You um, don't have an email listed. Would you email me, if you get a chance. Ideas! And such.

Meg

Hailey Haberman Photography said...

OHHHH!!! I love this, I've never seen this before....I must try....good idea...

Anonymous said...

Great idea. I'm dying to try this (no pun intended)! Thanks for sharing.

PMerr said...

I so want to do this with mine! I just need to buy one first! :) Yours turned out great! I love that parts stayed white! It looks nice!

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I'd love to do this for my wedding but have reading that you cannot dye polyester with Rit.

May I ask the fabric of your petticoat?

Ashley Noel said...

Nothing better to make your dress perfect. I love this!!!

I linked your blog. :}