Refashioning - Dying a Trench Coat .... Bonus: Get a Facial and Clean Your Shower Curtain

So...I bought this Candies trench coat a few months ago at the thrift store.

It's really nice and was in near perfect condition. The only thing I didn't like about it personally was the color. This pale pink color washes me out like none other.

Well, I decided to put it up for sale on eBay and Poshmark where it has been sitting for as many months. People "liked" it and added it to watch lists, but no one ever bit. I even took it to a consignment shop and they didn't take it. I was so confused. It's super stylish, a great fit, never goes out of style, etc. If the color had looked good on me, I would TOTALLY have bought this! I mean...the color looks terrible on me, and I still bought it! Ha!

Anyways, people don't make sense. . .

After months of waiting, I knew what action I should take: Dye it hot pink!

So, I downloaded the Hobby Lobby app and pulled up my 40% off coupon, drove to Hobby Lobby, found "Fuchsia" RIT dye and bought the 8oz bottle. (Regularly $4.95, but between $2-$3 with my coupon!)

According to the directions on the bottle, you are supposed to use 1/2 a bottle per pound of fabric with three gallons of water--the hotter, the better. The coat weighs only one pound, but I wanted the color to be as saturated as possible, so I decided to use the whole bottle of dye.

Also, the coat is cotton, so the bottle suggestions for organic fabric was to add 1 cup of salt to the dye bath. Also, it said to add 1tsp of dish detergent.

So. . .I know that some people buy a huge cauldron sort of pot for dying, but. . .when you think about the clean up, and the fact that the item has to be rinsed and re-rinsed after the dying, plus the fact that water splashes, plus the fact that I would have to store said cauldron somewhere when I'm not using it. . .

I dismissed that idea and chose to do the deed in my washer. 

(I've done this several times before, and I can tell you, it works great!)

So, here is my step-by-step, tried-and-true method.

First of all, fill my kettle with as much water as it will hold and turn it on so the water boils.

After about a minute of letting the water boil, I started my washer. I put it on "small" load size and "hot/cold" for water temperature. While the water was filling up, I added the cup of salt, the teaspoon of dish detergent, and the bottle of dye. I actually rinsed out the bottle of dye and dumped it into the rest of the water. I did that a couple of times until the water came out of the bottle clear. (This is to utilize as much dye as possible, and also reduces drip potential when walking it to the trash can.)

I took a long pole and swished the mixture around until the salt was dissolved and all the ingredients were well incorporated. At that point, I turned the water off and added the trench coat. I didn't let the water fill up more than necessary, because too much water dilutes the color. 

[It helps to spread the garment out long-ways and drop it down in the washer in a circle (versus balling it up and throwing it in). This helps the dye adhere more evenly to the garment.]

Once the water in my kettle started boiling, I poured it into my washer. This hot water made the rest of the water just that little bit hotter to really bring out the color. (I've tried using just the hot water in the washer itself, and it's not hot enough to create saturated color.) Then, I took my pole and started pushing the garment down under the water. You can see in the picture below that there were air pockets in the clothing that made it pop up above the water. If you walk away and don't push them down, those pockets will not get dyed consistently with the rest of the garment, so stirring and pushing is really really necessary. This is a 30 minute labor of love. (I've learned this the hard way.)

So. . .30 minutes is a long time to stir and push, and I hate wasted time, so I decided to walk away for a second and put on a face mask. These paper masks take 20 minutes to work, and I'd been working for ten minutes on the coat already, so. . .voila! 

So, with the mask on, I came back to my washer and stirred and pushed some more. 

Another tip: maybe once or twice during this stirring step, take your pole and pull the garment out of the water and then push it back down the other way, if you can. This just helps the dye get into any hidden folds that were created when the clothing was first put into the water.

Okay, so after the 30 minutes of stirring and pushing, I turned my washer back on. I used the remaining water to rinse my pole off so I wouldn't have pink droplets all over my wash room.

While the washer worked I dried my pole by resting it on an old towel.

This is the coat after the dye bath.

Okay, but I wasn't done. The directions say after that first wash, the item needs to be washed again, in warm water this time, with a mild detergent. This is for two reasons: (1) to set the color so it won't bleed onto other clothing the next time you wash it and (2) to help clean your washer of residual dye.

I didn't have mild detergent, but I did have some Oxi booster which is good for bringing color out in clothing, so I used a tiny bit of that.

This is how much I added.

I also sprinkled a little more salt into the wash since salt helps lock color into organic threads.

Then, I added my coat again.

Okay, so after the washer had run its course, my garment was nicely dyed; however, the inside of my washer was still a little messy. You can see pink droplets all over my washer lid here.

Enter: bleach and one more wash cycle.

So, I ran one last small load with hot water, and I slowly poured bleach over the stains on the lid. This bleach ran into the washer. If you do this, you can run this as an empty load, if you want. . .but I HATE wasting things, so I took this opportunity to add a shower curtain to the bleach water. Why? Because this is the best and easiest way I've discovered to wash a dirty shower curtain. Why spend hours scrubbing off the soap scum, calcium deposits, and whatever else when you could just throw it into a washer with bleach and be done with it!? I've done this method since college and it works like a charm!

After the curtain cycle, you will notice that my washer is squeaky clean and I barely had to do anything to get it there! Plus, I have a super clean shower curtain to boot!

Oh! Before I forget, here is the finished trench coat! 

And here is the "Before". . .

And here is the "After"!

The End!

How to Fix a Missing Rhinestone on Clothing

Okay, you know how when you go to the thrift store and find the perfect sweater or dress or shirt or whatever and there is a rhinestone missing? Yeah, I hate that.

Or like...when your shirt that you love loses a decorative stone or bead?

Before you toss it into the Goodwill pile, try this hack.

Here is a beautiful sweater I found at the Goodwill the other week. I love it. Totally my style. However. . .

Upon closer inspection, I found that it was missing a rhinestone. This must've been why the original owner discarded it, because it's way too adorable to toss otherwise.

A closer look at the missing stone's setting.

This is why I keep all my beads and baubles from past clothing items and jewelry. Fortunately, I found a pearl in my inventory that fit perfectly into the setting.

I bent the setting open so I could get the pearl into it.

This wasn't going to look right with a pearl on one side and a rhinestone on the other, so the corresponding rhinestone had to go as well.

I got two pearls of the same color and size with which to work.

Then, all I did was sew them into place!

Perfection!

You can do this on any piece of clothing that has lost something.

Go thou and do likewise.

The End!

Sunday School Craft: Lydia the Seller of Purple

Okay, today's is not awe-inspiring or anything. It's pretty straight-forward!

Lydia was a seller of purple. . .So, this is my craft:

For this craft you will need: cardstock, scissors, crayons, glue sticks, and purple fabric (or tissue paper!).

So, I could have just done this as a coloring page (which I found after Googling "Lydia Purple Paul," and then I stuck a verse onto it). But here's the issue with just coloring it: (1) misguided kids will color the cloth whatever color they like and misguided teachers will let them, and (2) the story will be made more concrete if you actually PUT purple cloth into the kids' hands.

So...anyways, because I didn't want to have to buy a bunch of purple cloth, and because the church already had tissue paper in the craft cabinet, I went with tissue paper!

First, I cut the paper into strips.

Then, I cut those strips into rectangles. (This goes faster if you stack the strips and cut through many at once.)

Then, I colored the page.

Then, I glued each rectangle onto the "cloth" in the picture.

So, as you do this craft with the kids, make sure to point out that purple cloth was a huge deal back in Bible times when most people wore brown or grey garments. The color was made from a rare snail that secretes purple ink. (That's why there is a bowl in the picture that says "Shells.") Each snail only produces a very small amount of ink, so in order to dye something, you would have to collect many, many snails. In fact, the darker the purple, the more expensive the cloth because more snails were used. This was a very costly procedure and so Lydia was a very rich and influential woman to be able to afford buying and selling this cloth. The fact that she accepted Christ, was baptized, and housed Paul and Company was a GREAT blessing to them and her community!

Just a word of warning: the picture is really pixel-y, and I couldn't fix the resolution. I wish I could have found a better picture, but. . .beggars can't be choosers!

The End!

Refashioning: Turning an Old Lady Shirt Backwards. . .Literally!

I frequent my Goodwill on the weekends because all tags of a predetermined color are only a dollar! Honestly, most of the clothes you see in this blog. . .and on my person. . .come from this rack. Anyways, I'm always on the lookout for my "Type 4" colors, and my green in particular because it's my favorite. When I find it, I usually just buy it--even if the item is gross--because I love this color, and I know I can turn it into something else. I hope. . .as always, that this post gives you some ideas!

Here is an old lady shirt I found the other day. 

It's that really weird crinkly, yet stretchy, polyester fabric. It's usually really horrid, but on this particular shirt, the color really shines--almost sparkles. I can't stop looking at it. These pictures don't do it justice. (My camera has a hard time with greens, unfortunately.) Just picture the boldest green you have ever seen, and. . .that's it!

The first step was to cut the shoulder pads out!

Then, I cut the collar off.

Then, the sleeves.

Next, I pinned and sewed up the button placket. 

This used to be the front, but I wanted the buttons in the back, so I pinned it to the back of my dress form and used the form as my pattern. (This is actually a technic of pattern making called "draping" because you drape and pin the fabric onto a form and then cut away everything that doesn't lie flat. I don't do it very often, but I probably should. It worked really well.)

I also draped the front (which used to be the back).

Next, I worked on the sleeves. For this, I did my usual cheating method of cutting around sleeves of a shirt I already knew fit me well.

I sewed up the sides of the sleeves.

Then, I pinned the two bodice pieces together and sewed them.

I added elastic to the tops of the shoulders as reinforcement. This fabric is super stretchy and I didn't want the shoulders to stretch out. I've noticed this method on factory-made shirts I own. Turn your garments inside out sometimes! You can learn a lot!

I pinned , then sewed, the sleeves to the bodice.

Then, I sewed some black stretchy fabric to the neckline, but. . .I guess I forgot to take a picture. (I get ahead of myself sometimes and forget that blog posts need pictures. . .Tons of my projects never even make it on here because I forget to take pictures. . .Oops.)

Okay, so. . .It kinda looks like Star Trek, but. . .I love Star Trek (especially Mr. Spock, may he rest in peace), so I'm okay with that!

I added a leather Peter Pan collar necklace that I made (example of a project I never photographed), and wore it with a jumper so I wouldn't look like a Starship Trooper.

The End!