It occurred to me that perhaps I could look at the dying process from the other end ... perhaps I could R E V E R S E dye?
Grabbing a faithful black cotton-blend midi dress (mink pink) that had seen better days, I used synthetic string to truss the old girl up as if I were about to tie-dye her. It's important to fold the fabric like a concertina [otherwise you will get two big clumps of colour on either side and nothing in the middle] then tie the string in crossing loops as tight as possible. Then -- and this is the good bit -- I submerged the dress in a mix of 2-parts laundry bleach to 1-part water for a few hours.
Now, I know: bleaching can be risky. But, if you have something dark [black, as here, but a chocolate brown, forest green or navy would also work] that has need of radical revamp or will shortly head to the charity shop then why not give it a shot? As the pics below illustrate, you'll never get a bright white in the bleached sections -- from black, I'd describe the bleaches sections as very mikly coffee coloured. Of course, this is for natural fabrics (cotton, silk); the higher the synthetic content the poorer the result.
I was tres pleased with the results, and it's given me something appropriate to wear with last summer's clogs.
xo Linds.
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