As promised, I'm making a tutorial on dip dyed shorts! The shorts are not perfect, but given this is my first attempt, the results (i think) are pretty decent, haha.
Things you'll need:
1. shorts (preferably white)
2. fabric dye
3. plastic gloves
4. plastic bucket
5. lots of patience
You don't necessarily have to use white shorts, any shorts are fine as long as they have a really light color. But the color you end up with may vary depending on the color of the shorts you're using. Say, if you use a pair of light yellow shorts and use a blue dye on them, it might end up to be green or turquoise-ish. So to make more accurate predictions of the color you end up with, it's always safer to use white shorts.
okay. so once you get the stuff ready, fill a bucket with fabric dye following the instructions on the packaging of your dye. The brand i used is Dylon, and I got that because it was the only fabric dye available in the store I went to. It was pretty decent though.
Dampen the shorts and dip it into the dye. How far you dip them in depends on how far you want the dye to go, but normally the dye will go a bit further higher than the water level so make sure you don't push too much. (otherwise you will have to bleach it)
Use clothespins to hold the shorts in place so they don't slide further into the bucket while the dye sits in. Leave it there for an hour (or as stated in the instructions)
After a some time, pull the shorts up so that less of it is dipped in the dye. Leave it in for another hour so that the color becomes darker. This helps to create an ombre effect.
At the end you should be able to get something like this - and if you're already satisfied with what you have, you can stop at that. I decided I wanted something more colorful and summery, so I dyed the other end of the shorts as well.
Prepare another tub of dye just like you did before
Twist your shorts dry (try your best)
You basically repeat what you've done before for this part. Just remember to decide how far you want the dye to go before you dip the shorts in. Keep in mind what you're doing is irreversible. (Okay, not exactly. you can bleach it, but it's gonna take up a lot of your time and is super, super tedious)
OOOOPS!
well. apparently i wasn't really careful when dying it, and i wasn't all that patient. didn't realize i spilled some dye on the sides of the tub and ended with this at the back.... so REMEMBER TO CHECK THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SHORTS AS WELL!! and make sure you didn't spill the dye on the other side of the tub like i did :(
so like i said, this isn't entirely irreversible so i bleached the parts where it went wrong and dyed parts of the shorts again. This is what it looked like after bleaching. (so yeah. if you're doing two colors, even if you have finished using one of the dyes, KEEP IT. don't pour it away until you're done dying the whole thing.)
Now for the most exciting part....
This is how it looks right after dying :)
Bear in mind that the color lightens after it dries up, so adjust the intensity of the dyes accordingly while they are still damp. (i.e. the color of the shorts should be slightly darker/brighter than the color you want to achieve in the end)
Hope this helped! Dip dying your shorts is definitely a fun way to spice up your old shorts, and you can actually bleach your jeans and dye them to create variations.
See you in a bit!
-teree-
