Have you tried bleaching clothing to change the color? Any suggestions are welcome.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Black to Brown
Years ago, I participated in the Color Me Beautiful program and learned what colors were most flattering for me to wear as an "autumn" with my red hair and freckles. But, as time passed I began ignoring the advice to coordinate my wardrobe by limiting purchases to a certain color pallet. Then, a few weeks ago, after watching some free online videos called Dressing Your Truth, I made a decision to eliminate some black from my closet in exchange for the more-flattering-for-me, brown. Black really does nothing for me except make me look older. Who need that!
Rather than just give away all of that black, I decided to experiment and try to change the black to brown with.........bleach! Guess what. It worked!!
The tee shirt on the left is 60% cotton and 40% polyester. The sweater on the right is 100% cotton. They both were black like the middle turtleneck before I threw them in the washer with about a half cup (I admit to not measuring!) bleach and enough water to cover them. After about 20 minutes (again, just guessing) of soaking I drained the water and added some vinegar to the rinse water to, hopefully, set the new color.
None of this is scientific, as you can see, but I'm happy with the results. I wore the sweater Monday and it didn't fall apart so I guess my experiment worked!
Have you tried bleaching clothing to change the color? Any suggestions are welcome.
Have you tried bleaching clothing to change the color? Any suggestions are welcome.
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Any bleaching I've done has been purely accidental. I have brown splash marks on a lot of the black workout clothes that I wear when I'm cleaning. Eventually, those brown spots turn to holes.
ReplyDeleteI have not done this intentionally! I am like you and probably look best in earthy tones, but I really like brights!
ReplyDeleteI have not tried bleaching or dyeing any clothes (or fabrics!) But I did just watch the first video and now I'm impatient to see the next! Thanks for the heads up about this program - I had not heard of it before today. But do I really have to space out my viewing?! I want to figure it all out today. That probably says a lot about my "truth", huh?!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea for reusing your clothes! I was once given a fleece swing coat that was peach--a great color for autumns, but not for a winter like me. I tried to dye it black, but it came out a smokey grey. It was actually not a bad color so I changed out the buttons and wore it for quite a few years.
ReplyDeleteWhat a useful thing to know, I honestly would never have thought that. I love brown and I think it is such a beautiful colour. I am off now to look at the link xoxo
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever girl....I actually did bleach some sunshine yellow fabric that I wanted to use in a round robin in my guild - so I put it in my big jacuzzi tub and I used a spray bottle and sprayed bleach on it - it bleached out 'spots' and I liked the toned-down affect - and it is in one of Ysleta's Round Robin quilts it was the 'yellow brick road' in the quilt with the house in the center. Reality - I was too lazy to go to the store and purchase a piece of more suitable yellow.....hope it doesn't rot!! Kristen
ReplyDeleteI love a success story! Well done.
ReplyDeleteI have never bleached anything (other than to remove stains) and have only once tried dyeing, when a girlfriend was going on a hiking trip and wanted her boring white thermal underwear turned into something snazzy and green. We did it in my kitchen on the stove with only limited green splashes. (I did feel like a witch over a cauldron for a lot of the time.)
I have also never been brave enough to have my colours done. I fear they will tell me I need to throw out all my favourite things!
Hugh...I would have never thought to try that. I love the color of those 'new' brown tops. I'd say that was very smart indeed!
ReplyDeleteYou're very brave! I'm glad it worked for you. I wear brown well too but I do like black
ReplyDeleteHaven't tried bleaching clothes to change the color . . . just to get out stains. You got good results. Will be interested to see how they last. Keep us posted later on.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is really neat! I would never have thought to do that with my own clothes. You're so darned clever! I bet you look gorgeous in those brown clothes, and you smell good too! Like lavender!
ReplyDeleteI've read that chlorine bleach should only be used on natural fibers. On man-made - such as poly - it weakens the fibers. So my guess is that your 100% cotton item will hold up just fine. The cotton/poly blend item may wear out quicker. anything that is totally man-made of a blend that is mostly poly with a lower amount of cotton probably would not work to change the color
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