How To Dye A Wedding Dress?

Our wedding day is a time when a woman wants to look her best and wear the most beautiful flattering dress possible. Sometimes, we may buy a dress that is ALMOST perfect but may need some adjustments. Or we may want to alter the dress for future use after our nuptials. One of the best ways to spice up this garment is to change the color. 

How to Dye a Wedding Dress In No Time

Collect the Materials

Before we can adorn a short rainbow-colored version of our wedding gown for New Year’s Eve, we must gather the right tools :

  • Fabric dye
  • Plastic cover for protection
  • Rubber gloves
  • Eye goggles
  • Measuring cup and spoon
  • Stirring stick
  • White vinegar or salt
  • Large plastic container or bucket

Do Some Preplanning

We must first decide what type of dye job our dress requires. We must plan to use a lot of dye and designate more time if we want a deep color versus a simple color splash.

Become familiar with the dress fabric as the material will affect the type of dye needed. We will need acid dye for materials like silk and wool. However, a dress made from polyester or nylon requires a disperse dye. According to Science Direct, disperse dyes are usually sold as powders but may give off fumes.

Get the Workspace Ready

Go to a well-ventilated area and set up the workspace.

Let’s not forget that dye can stain anything, so we must protect our surfaces with a plastic sheet.

Don’t be tempted to directly dye the dress in a ceramic sink unless you want to give the sink a new color as well. This is why we need a plastic bucket.

Time to Get Messy

We must pre-wash our dress in soap water to get rid of stains. Rinse and soak the dress. Then refill the bucket with enough water to cover the dress.

Now it is time for us to mix our dye according to the label. Don’t forget to use rubber gloves unless you want rainbow fingers!

Add the dye to the water. Salt is useful for enhancing the color of cotton, linen, or rayon. Salt helps the dye completely penetrate the fabric. Vinegar provides the same vibrance for silk and wool.

Before we go for the whole shebang, we should test a fabric swatch first. The last thing we want is to go through this whole effort just to have an ugly color.

Now we can finally give more life to the dress and place it in the dye concoction. Our arms get to have a workout as we stir the dress in the dye bucket for ten minutes.

After ten minutes pass, we can give ourselves a break and let the dress sit for no more than an hour.

Drain the container and remove the dress once we see the color we want.

The Dye Is Cast

Finally, it is time to rinse the dress in cool water and use a mild detergent to wash it. Hang dry and await the final look!