My favorite jeans are fading. Can I get them re-dyed?
Asked by
lily (
93
)
January 18th, 2007
I know I could probably go to the drugstore and buy dye, but these are expensive designer jeans and i want them to look like they did when i bought them. Has anyone done this? Could i get the manufacturer to do it? or a seamstress??
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11 Answers
my friend in high school used to dye things black in the washing machine...maybe they sell denim dye (?) and you could do it yourself. i would take them to a really good dry cleaner/alterations place and ask.
The way to dye permanently is a PITA. You need a huge pot where you can put dye and water in and bring to boil. Then emerse jeans and stir hard (like Macbeth's witches.) Pot and utensils are permantently ruined; jeans probably have shrunk.
When one dyes fabrics for quilting, say, you can use the natural dyes - blueberry juice, onion skins, etc-but need a mordant (fixer) to make the dye permanent. Beautiful but also a PITA.
My mommy advice would be to enjoy your faded jeans and also spring for a new pair. Money well spent - the life of good jeans is now probably longer than the new plastic washer and dryer I just got from Sears.
gailcalled is right. As a former costumer, I used dye all the time. But you have to use HOT water! So your jeans will definitely shrink. So then you've spent time and money (dye can get very expensive) and end up with jeans you can't wear. It definately is NOT worth it!
But now that I think of it, there are some cold water dyes. That might be worth a try. I believe I got some from JoAnn Fabrics once.
For the future: wash dark jeans inside-out to prevent premature fading.
or do not wash them! (jk)
@marianamint, you are completely right, although you were kidding. as long as your not gross, just don’t wash them after every use. i usually wash mine after 4 or five wears.
There is a denim coloured dye.
Though I doubt it would get it back to its original colour.
There are a lot of subtle nuances to the colour of denim.
@marianamint I definitely don’t wash my jeans after every wear! Depending on what I was doing in them, if they don’t have stains, I’ll wash em about every 5 wears.
I’d buy new jeans instead of dying them, though.
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