Dye Try 3 - Blue Moon...

Drat. I forgot to take before shots. Anyway, here is how my cobalt dyeing experiment came out. Everything looked pretty good. Two of the items definitely got blue, but didn't get cobalt blue. I used 2 containers of dye, "royal blue" and "sapphire blue" to get this deep blue color, per Dharma's helpful instructions. Once again, I used a nine gallon dye bath.
The first item is this stonewashed jean jacket from Talbots. It took the dye beautifully. The stitching, which wasn't that noticeable before, really stands out in ORANGE, which, hmmm, I'm not so sure about, but I can't argue with the color. The buttons are brassy, so I am busy painting them with my faithful Krylon silver leafing pen.



These Tommy Hilfiger crop jeans/capris didn't get a whole lot of wear in my closet because they were such a light wash; it never felt like they really went with anything. I already have cobalt blue jeans, but I figured it would be fun and functional to have a shorter version for the summer months.
They took the dye quite well.



Would you dye sweatpants? I probably wouldn't have dyed these, except that I had a great big vat of blue. Anyway, these were a very nondescript and not so exciting heather gray, and now they are a smashing cobalt blue. Will revving up the energy in the color also rev up my workouts? Hmmm.....

Now on to the not quite so successful ventures...

This corsage tee wasn't quite the right blue and was destined for the DI. I added it to the batch as an experiment. It came out with one little light spot right center front, and the corsage, of course, didn't take the dye, so it looks a little strange.


This is a pair of Lee Riders casual pants. It's hard to see here, but they are not a solid gray; there is actually a very faint, very small plaid going on. They are 100% cotton. Even though they are cotton, they didn't take the dye nearly as well as all the others and came out a much lighter blue. Hmmm...

I also dyed a ratty old apron, which came out beautifully, except that all the greasy spots didn't dye. Several pairs of socks hit the vat -- most of them look kind of purple now. I also tried dyeing a light gray wool merino sweater, and it turned turned blue but not as vibrant a blue as one could have hoped for.

Overall, it was a very successful dyeing experiment.