Remember that hideous red velvet chair that we made a beautiful muslin slipcover for? Well, as much as I love the look of muslin, it’s really been bugging me that the chair is essentially the same color as the wall behind it. Combined with the fact that our couches are brown and the other chair in the living room is black, that poor little muslin chair just looked out of place. So, I employed one of my favorite low-cost solutions for problems such as these: fabric dye! To be sure I got the deepest color possible, I used two whole packs of pearl grey Rit dye along with a splash of basic black Rit dye (from a larger bottle). Aside from mixing the dye, wetting the fabric, resetting the washing machine to extend the wash cycle, and waiting (quite impatiently) for the slipcover to air dry, this project required no real work or skill on my part.
The slipcover before.
In a room with darker walls, I would’ve loved to leave the muslin natural. But I’m pretty fond of our current wall color, and Rit dye is much cheaper than a gallon of paint anyway.
Chowder is really happy with the way this chair turned out.
It’s amazing how much more put-together a space can feel because of a small change like the color of a chair. Of course, this isn’t the first time fabric dye has come to my rescue. My current comforter was white when it was given to me. While it was really nice, a white comforter that serves as prime napping spot, wrestling ring, and bathing area for two cats doesn’t stay white very long. I used the washing machine method (which is great for large items, like comforters and slipcovers, that would be too bulky for the sink) and a combination of blue and navy dyes to get a beautiful cornflower blue (the color turned out much lighter than the dye since there was so much fabric) that coordinated perfectly with a quilt I was already using. Using fabric dye to transform an item is often the most cost-effective solution. In most cases, even when I have to buy a few packs of fabric dye, I’m still saving money because, obviously, a new comforter, curtains, slipcover, etc. would cost much more than the dye. Additionally, I’m able to extend the life of an item that would otherwise be thrown away or donated to the thrift store, and that’s something to feel even better about.
What are your experiences with fabric dye? Have you used it to give new life to an item otherwise destined to be thrown out? Conversely, have you ruined an otherwise perfectly good item because of a bad dye job?
