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Monday, January 14, 2019

Revamping Old Bath Towels


This afternoon I am dyeing a set of towels for my daughters' bathroom. Currently, we have light pink bath and hand towels and a set of 4 new, white washcloths. I bought the washcloths on clearance last summer in a set of 8 for $4.80, or 60 cents each ($2.40 for 4 of them).  (Story on the washcloths -- I was placing an order online and needed to spend a couple more dollars to get free shipping. As we wear out washcloths faster than other types of towels, I checked for sets of washcloths on markdown.)

I asked what color of finished towels would be preferable, and peachy-pink was the answer. So, I went through my craft supplies and found partials boxes of orange and light pink fabric dye. Now, I'm off to Value Village and Goodwill to find a bath mat in white, cream, pale pink, or pale yellow. I'll let you know how these turn out.

4 comments:

  1. How nice of you to coordinate the color of the towels in your daughters' bathroom. You are always making your home pretty and comfortable. I will be interested in how the dying works. While I know that you can set dye so it won't bleed, but I would still be a little weary of that not happening especially with a towel that will often be wet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      it has been my experience with dyeing all-cotton fabric that with subsequent washings the dye does fade, even with the addition of salt in the dye bath and using high heat. Even so, I figure my worst case scenario is that the set will need re-dyeing in a year. I'm not concerned with the color bleeding onto other items in the wash, as it is a pastel shade. I would definitely be more concerned with bleeding if I had dyed these a dark or bright color. We'll have to see how my thoughts pan out, though.

      Delete
  2. I dyed bed sheets a couple of summers ago. I'm still leary about using them since I don't want them to leach color onto sleepwear. I followed the instructions to "set" to dye but when I was them I still see the blue color in the water. Not sure I like that.

    Alice

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    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      Were the sheets 100% cotton? I understand that if the fabric is not 100% cotton or wool, than the color will not last very well. One of my daughters has a bathrobe that she wants dyed and asked if I could add it to this dye bath. But her robe is 100% polyester, and I wasn't willing to risk dyeing with Rit cotton dye. I'll be buying Rit's polyester dye for the robe. One thing I read online, for when dyeing a garment that has a mix of polyester and cotton, you can combine Rit cotton dye and their polyester dye in the same dye bath.

      How many times have you washed the sheets? Are they a very dark shade of blue? Did you set the dye with salt or vinegar? I read that salt is good for all-cotton/linen, and vinegar is good for nylon/silk. I don't have the answer to this, but I wonder if vinegar would help with setting your color? Good luck with this.

      Delete

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