Jul 3, 2012

How To Tie Dye Your Denim Jeans


After posting The DIYer I received a request to do a tutorial on tie dye jeans. Below you will see all the instructions on how to turn your jeans in to a great tie dye style!

The Basics You Will Need
1. Jeans
2. Bleach*
3. Bucket
4. Paper Coffee Cup (optional)
5. Rubber Bands** 
6. Gloves
7. Scissors 

*Because the bleach is very strong in scent, it is best to be in a well ventilated area (i.e. outside). If you must be indoors, I suggest you use the scented bleach as the regular scent is masked by a floral aroma.

**Although any rubber band is usable, it is better to have a wide width rubber band as it will impact the style of the tie dye.


The How To

1. Begin by filling your bucket half full with luke warm/hot water.
2. Place your jeans in the bucket of water to fully soak them. Once fully soaked, pull out and squeeze as much water out of them as possible.
3. With rubber bands near, begin gathering small pieces of the jean and tying the rubber band around it. 


The How To (...continued)
4. After you have secured the jean in full with rubber bands, place extras to hold the jean all together
5. Place gloves on and pour 4 fully filled paper coffee cups of bleach into the water filled bucket (if cup is not available, pour up to half of the bleach bottle in the bucket)
6. Place the banded jean in the water and make sure it is fully submerged

Key Note: Submerging the jean in hot water with bleach will speed up the process of the activation of the bleach.


The How To (...continued)

7. Periodically check (and turn over) the jean to see the change in color. This can take 1-3 hours depending on the material of the jean.
8. Once you have decided on how light you would like the jeans, remove the banded jean from the water and rinse the jean thoroughly
9. Refill the bucket with fresh cold water and submerge the banded jean for a few minutes
10. Now that the banded jean has been submerged, take the scissors and start removing the rubber bands. As you cut away the rubber bands you will start to see the great unraveling of your new tie dye jean
11. After all rubber bands are removed, soak the jean in fresh cold water again for a few minutes.

The How To (...End)

12. Begin to squeeze excess water out of the jean and place to wash with cold water and detergent 1 to 2 times depending on how strong the scent may be on the jean
13. Hang dry your new tie dye jean
14. Once dry wear fabulously!

 Have fun with it and be sure to share pictures of your new jeans!

10 comments:

Ms K said...

Thanks for this awesome tutorial. I cannot wait to come home this weekend and try it out. I will try it with my red jeans and an older pair of blue jeans!

devonstinson said...

Thank you for this!! I can't wait to try this out! :)

Unknown said...

I wasn't so jazzed about the tie dye trend, but I think you sold me. Those jeans look great. I'm actually going to try this myself!

www.pureferocity.com

Candace Belle said...

Ladies I'm anxious to see the outcome and your experiences. Do share when you can

Unknown said...

Ooo I can't wait to try this! I'll let you know how they turn out!

Moya2bean said...

What a creation! I need to try this.
Great blog, new follower for sure.
Im a fan! ;)

chunkyfunkymonkeyz.blogspot.com

imaNYgirl said...

II know this is an old post, but I just found it looking for dye for jeans. Anyway, will this work with any pants? I don't necessarily want to risk any of my jeans but I have a few pair of old capris and shorts that I'd like to do.

Also, do you have any recommendations on dying jeans to restore color? I can't seem to find any specific dye for jeans and RIT dye is awful and fades quickly. I have a dark jean jacket that is in great shape- just faded and I want it back to its original dark color. Thanks!

Candace Belle said...

@imaNYgirl Thanks for your question! I highly suggest you try an old pair of jeans first before moving on to your best pair as this will give you an idea of the outcome on the first try. If you try other colored jeans use less bleach. As for keeping the richness of color in your clothes washing in cold water and hang dry helps tremendously in keeping colors rich and for a long period of time. Hope this helps!

Anonymous said...

I tried this not with but with dye it turned our brilliant so thank you for sharing it with us!! I will certainly try the bleach though!!

Many thanks for sharing this with us!!

Candace Belle said...

@anonymous that is a genius idea! I will have to try that too!