I Dyed

Awhile ago Anthony mentioned to me that a pair of his brown canvas shoes were looking a little faded and worse for wear.
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A little conversation ensued after which it was decided that I would try to dye them.  His idea. 

So, we grabbed this Rit dye one day…

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[image via amazon.com]

…and then while Anthony was out of two for a few days last week, I dyed.

I followed the instructions and used our stainless steel sink for the process. 

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Except I cheated a little bit because I didn’t constantly stir the mixture plus shoes because I was too lazy/have three toddlers/had tons of other things to do for an hour.  I just laid them in the dye, making sure they were completely submerged (and put an empty wine bottle on top of one shoe that was being stubborn).  But I weaseled my way out of that instruction convincing myself that, since there weren’t any folds in a pair of shoes like there are in an article of clothing, it probably wasn’t necessary anyway.  And in the end they turned out okay so, phew!  Laziness for the win!

Anyway, after I kept them in the dye for about an hour, I ran them under water until the water ran clear and then hand-washed them in the sink.
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They looked super dark wet (obviously because they were wet…she’s a smart one that Sheena) and when they dried, they looked like this: IMG_0677 
I know.  I see your eyebrow lifts.  Not much different.  I only used about half of the dye bottle (per the instructions for something of this size/weight) and this is where we ended up.

dyed cloth shoes

But Anthony is fine with them and so am I so I guess we’ll call it a success.  They don’t exactly look new but he’s just planning on wearing them on very casual days anyway.  And the coloring is still a little uneven; some spots have more and others less.  But, I think that that’s because they were faded in spots to begin with so the dye darkened the fabric evenly but didn’t even out the color.  Make sense?  I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the dye didn’t touch the leather string running around the sides and back of the shoe nor the thread at the top.    

Moral of this tale – dye to faded cloth shoes is like botox to Hollywood a-listers.  It turns back the superficial clock a tad.  ;)  

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I can’t wait to show you guys what I’ve been working on for the past week!  You can get a glimpse here!  I probably won’t be completely finished until next week but when I am, I’ll be up and atcha with a couple of really good tutorials!  Check back!  :)

4 comments

  1. I'm so glad it worked for you!! I tried dying some pillow shams a few weeks ago and completely FAILED:( Went in light green...came out light green with more obvious spots from old stains. It was sad. But at least it was a cheap project to fail at. Now my cupboards that I stained...3 coats of stain...and don't like...now that was downright heart breaking and significantly more expensive. Ok. So all that to say "YAY! I'm glad the dye worked!"

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    1. Oh no Bethany!! I wonder if the type of fabric makes a difference because one of my good friends tried to dye a duvet cover recently without any luck. :( Weird. The cupboards though!! Oh man!!! Please tell me they were bathroom cabinets and not a whole kitchen's worth at least! Eek!

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    2. Kitchen:( But I stopped after I completed a third of them...

      http://longdaysarchives.blogspot.com/2015/07/house-update-1.html

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    3. And yes. I think the type of fabric definitely makes a difference. Lesson learned.

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