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| I discovered this scarf look is not a good one for me. Just wanted to show what a difference such a small change can make. |
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| Ahhhh.... much better! |
DIY red flares (Allen B. @ JCP, $7 + supplies)
tank (H&M, $11)
scarf (MNG by Mango, JCP, $25)
platform sandals ("Garren" by Blowfish via DSW, $35)
I dyed these jeans awhile ago, but I had to put together the perfect outfit to show them off. (OK, maybe it's not perfect, #dealwithit.)
These jeans used to be white, then I got them dirty, then I washed them in bleach, then they were still dirty, so my dumb-ass decided to put bleach directly onto them. This is probably a "duh" moment, but please don't make the same mistake I did. Full-strength, un-diluted bleach will not whiten your whites, it will yellow them. So I ended up with white jeans with disgusting, yellow stains on the sides and bottoms. In other words, ruined jeans.... or not.
I took this as an opportunity to get crafty. (If that's not looking at the glass half-full, I don't know what is.*) I love the colored-jeans-look goin' 'round, but I gotta be honest, I'm sick to death of skinny jeans. They are not very flattering on my curvy body; I prefer flares. So this was a perfect chance to get my hands on some colored flares without the exhaustive search and spending of more money.
After polling my friends and family on which color my jeans should be, cause I'm annoying indecisive considerate like that (they chose red, BTW), I headed to Joann's for some Rit. (I swear they sold this stuff at Jewel, back in the day, but no more.) Once at Joann's, I found myself spending entirely too much time staring at all my options, going back and forth between orange and red (wait, purple... maybe purple?) and which type of dye to use - Rit or Dylon - liquid or powder - too many choices for my Libra brain to handle...
I chose Dylon, probably because the packaging was sleeker, and anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for packaging. I bought 3 packs because I wanted to ensure that my jeans would come out a dark red, not pink. These were $2.99/each and 20% off, costing me $2.39 X 3 + tax = you do the math.
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| Artistic photo of ruined white jeans & 3 packs of dye, i.e., "Before" picture |
The directions are pretty straight forward, but because I'm a rebel, I didn't follow them to a T. 1) I didn't weigh my fabric. 2) I didn't start with damp jeans. 3) I used a bucket, not a bowl or sink and my shit couldn't really "move freely". Hey you gotta work with what ya got.
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| Directions! |
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| Bucket 'O' Jeans |
After a lot of minutes (technical term) in the dye bucket (another technical term), I took them out, rinsed them in cold water, washed them in the washing machine, in warm water, and hung them to dry in the bathroom, away from heat and sunlight, just like the directions said. (This part, I felt, was important.)
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| The finished-ish product |
After all that, I did something really stupid again, but that's for another day and another post. Just know this, if you try this at home, wash your dyed item SEPERATELY for awhile. Or forever, to be safe.
This was a long, tedious project (you should have lots of wine on hand), but I'm relatively satisfied with the results. The jeans look slightly blotchy, but I'm told you can't tell from far away and I decided I'm too lazy to re-dye them, so I'm making it a "look".
Do you think you'll try your hand at this DIY or have I thoroughly scared you off?
*Until I got my hands on replacement white flares (the same brand, style, size, of course), I was totally bummed out and mad at myself. I was giving myself the silent treatment. Don't mess with my jeans, you!
