OVERDYING

So I decided I wanted to make some summer cotton dresses for myself. I had found a great fabric on Fabric.com that was navy blue with teal polka dots. Very cool looking. Of course it was sold out. I decided to try looking for it at my local fabric store but had no luck. However I did find navy with white polka dots. A light bulb went off! I will overdye this teal. I ended up buying Rit fabric dye in Teal.



Here is a before pic of the fabric. I've had some luck with Rit dye in the past but most of the time it fades with multiple washings. The website has a Color Formula Guide which I thought was very handy if you wanted to mix to get a specific color. I have used some better dyes in the past at work but it's not something I want to try at home. I don't really have the set up for that. I would like to try Dylon dye, I've heard the results are really vivid.



So I decided to do the washing machine dyeing technique. Stove would have been better but that makes me nervous with a three year old running around. I followed the instructions exactly. Before I started I did pre-wash my fabric in hot water. Then I took it out of the machine, got the dye all ready in the machine like the backage says too, and slowly added my wet fabric back into the machine.



I was very happy with the results. I figure if it should fade I can always just re-dye it. The only difference between the fabric I saw and the fabric I dyed was that the fabric I saw had larger polka dots. I think I will be doing more of this.



Here is the finished dress. It turned out so well and fits great. So great I'm working on four others that are variations of the pattern.

It's not very noticeable in the pic, but I used a teal colored thread for all the top-stitching. It's a nice subtle detail. This dress also has pockets!. It looks cute with a skinny gold belt too.



I really like the open slit in the sleeves. It's just one of the variations of the pattern. Decided the sleeve needed a little button too.



I used Simplicity pattern 2922. I bought this two years ago to make the sleeves version. My measurements are between a 10 and 12 based on the pattern info. So I cut out a 10 for the bodice and started cutting a 10 for the skirt and finished cutting on the 12 line.



This is what I mean when I said I started cutting a 10 but ended the cut on the 12 line. I think most people do this. It prevents having to alter after the garment is complete. I actually didn't start doing this till about 2 years ago.