Dyeing for Spring

We still have bits of snow decorating our yard - it is not the pretty kind of snow, but all grey and muddy only surviving in little patches.  Kind of like the the old surviving white t-shirts and tops from last summer, then into the fall and winter - now dull and stained with wear. 

 I cleaned out a nice pile of them from the closets last week knowing a quick dye job would not only give them new life and wear for spring but also energize me through the process.  I even let Henry help.  Here he is dumping 3 cups of salt into 6 cups hot water.

I did the messy mixing with the older boys during nap time.   Here is my batch of yellow in the mix. 

These bold colors are energizing!  I am happy with the result.

I always use the procion dyes form dharma trading co.  Here's what I mixed for the lavender:  1/2 Tbs wedgwood blue, 1/4 Tbs bubble gum pink and 1/4 Tbs fuchsia red.  I regret not straining the mix because the reds tend to clump and I do have a few tiny red spots on the pieces.  But over all they look good (or at least better than stained white).

Now the yellows.  I had to be careful with this batch because it included one of James' favorite Michigan football T-shirts.  Lemon Yellow would not be as authentic as Michigan's maize so I added a bit of deep orange and a dash of golden brown.  Again - very pleased.

Here's the hot pink which was simply fuchsia red with a bit of deep orange.  I'm sorry my little models were too cold to try these on for photos but I don't blame them.  One of my sisters passed down the dress below, it was originally a tan corduroy but has not been worn by my girls because it was not "pretty".  Now it is.

The green below was an even mix of avocado and chartreuse.  Can you believe I've had that H&M wrap blouse for 8 years now!  A quick touch up with the iron and it's gonna look brand new. 

Now the orange batch.  It is a mix of mostly deep orange, a bit of fuchsia red and a dash of lemon yellow.  I got lazy with this and forgot to stir resulting in uneven dye. But the color is so vibrant it is hard to tell (it's actually not a color that is fun to look closely at).  In fact, these pieces will need some careful pairing to pull off, but my girls do take joy in awful mixing so these are sure to be worn and loved.

So here's to a colorful spring (and summer)!  May these pieces, so vibrant and new, be as fun to wear, wash, fold, pick up and put away as they were to make.  And who knows.....maybe by end of summer there will still be enough wear in them to dye a bit darker and muted for fall.