Last week I was whining to my friend about my jeans. The cut is great, they fit just right, but they’re alllll faded. My office is pretty casual, but even so I refuse to wear faded jeans in a professional setting. And faded jeans don’t look right for dressing up, no matter the cut. It felt wasteful to have a drawer full of totally wearable but not-dark-enough jeans. In the future, I can use preventative measures like washing them inside-out on cold, but how to return the already-faded to their former glory???
I found several tutorials online about DIY jean-dyeing. This one (including comments) was probably the best. But nobody had before and after photos. And that’s what I was REALLY after. So I decided to give it a try, and I did my best to photograph everything.
Synopsis – Re-dyeing jeans to make them dark again WORKS, but is only worth the trouble if your jeans have some stretch in them (i.e. not 100% cotton)
BEFORE, 100% cotton jeans
BEFORE, jeans with a little stretch (synthetic) in them
Mix 1 packet navy blue RIT dye, 1/2 packet black RIT dye, and hot water in a 5-gallon bucket. Get your jeans wet, wring them out, and dunk them in the bucket. Keep them in the dyebath for 30-45 minutes.
Rinse the jeans until the water runs clear (at least 5-10 min). Wash them by themselves, on cold, inside out, in the washing machine. Dry (keeping inside out) in the dryer.
AFTER - the 100% cotton jeans. Nice and dark, but the color is almost too saturated. Like trendy jeans worn by people younger than me.
AFTER - the 100% cotton jeans. I still wear them in casual settings, even though the color is kinda weird.
AFTER - the stretch jeans. The stretch fabric contains synthetic white cross-threads, which don't accept dye...so the final color is very "realistic". I have started wearing these to work again.
50% success rate isn't too bad
I did this so many times when I was in my teens and twenties to make my jeans dark again. I used washing machine dye and it came out perfect every time. In fact, your post has left me feeling that maybe I have a couple of pairs of jeans that could do with being a bit darker….
ClaireBear
HELP! I used 1/2 bottle of navy and 1/2 bottle of black to dye a pair of Capri pants (stretch). They have a hint of purple to them. Can you help me figure out how to correct this??
I haven’t experimented with this to know for certain, but i think that the purplish tinge comes more from the navy than the black. I’d try re-dyeing them in 100% black dye…but that’s just a guess!
hi- i’m curious about why the seams and tags didn’t get dyed, too?
thanks!
I’m not completely sure, but I’m guessing it’s because they’re made of synthetic (not cotton) material.
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Hi, I dyed my jean following your tutorial but they came out spotty(?) Did you wring your jean while rinsing?
I wonder if I can dye them again.. please help!
Thank you
Oh no! You got them thoroughly wet (and then wrung them out) before dyeing them, right?
Don’t see why you can’t dye them again. I wrung them a lot while rinsing too…just kept pushing the water out of them until the water ran clear.
i had to dye three pairs of levis for work, they wanted them darker and i used one packet of navy and one packet of blue and they cam out perfect! thank you so much! you were the only tutorial i trusted with the rit dye. all of the other websites said they would turn purple!! thanks again!!
i meant to say one packet of navy and one packet of black!
This blog is about to make my life so much better! Where did you get the dye? And would it work for black jeans?
RIT is sold as most big box stores like Walmart, Target, etc. A lot of grocery stores carry basic colors too. I think it would work for black, but you’d have to be really careful about washing them on cold and inside-out afterwards. Black tends to fade into purply shades…
Has anyone else tried this on black jeans?
Update! A commenter on my “About” page wrote that she successfully dyed her jeans black again…she doesn’t have photos but says it worked well.
I love this post. I inherited a great pair of Diesel jeans that had only been worn once or twice – the only problem was that they were a very faded blue/grey color. I went with the same 2 parts navy and 1 part black and they turned out great. 45 minute soak and they look awesome. Similar to your non-stretch pair, the color is uniform throughout, but now they look like something I’ll actually wear.
Thanks for the tutorial!
This is an awesome and very helpful post, from a midwesterner turned Bostonian no doubt. A woman after my own heart.
I have a pair of “skinny jeans” that I really like and have a couple more years left in them, but have faded so much that I hardly wear them anymore. Medium/light wash skinny jeans are extremely unflattering. Now that I have some free time, I cannot wait to try this.
Thanks for the helpful post, especially comparing the stretch and 100% cotton jeans with photos:)
So what made you use black & navy instead of navy alone?
The color on the box of navy dye didn’t look deep/dark enough. It was a guess though. If you dye some with 100% navy be sure to post on here or email me at foxflat@gmail.com to let me know how it turns out!
From what I can tell, RIT makes the navy or black (I’m not sure which…maybe both) with a purplish base. So once the jeans start to fade again they take on a slight purple tinge. That’s the most noticeable downside to this dye. I want to buy the Dharma Fiber Reactive dye (it’s pricier) just to see if it’s noticeably better.
your supposed to add indigo dye to counter act the blue and black. equal parts of all i believe.
Indigo-colored RIT dye? Or something else?
Awesome post. I have some black Levi’s that I want to try this on.
ok a couple of questions: did you use boiling water or just hot water from the sink? and did you just use regular laundry detergent to wash them?
I used the hottest water I could get from the shower, and then super-heated it with a couple kettle-fulls of boiling water. I used regular laundry detergent, but definitely washed them inside out on cold/cold. Have you dyed some yet? How did it go?
I just got home and put mine in the dryer, but they turned out really dark- i might have used more black than i meant to. I also think that they will still fade a little bit, and i can always wash them right side out in hot water if i think that they are too dark. I ended up using a couple of kettle-fuls of boiling water, and stirred them constantly for 30 min. It took a really long time to rinse them- almost 20 minutes. My friend that was with me as decided to try it as well, and i think we might try a recipe that i saw on yahoo- i packet navy blue, one packet indigo, and one packet black (but we will probably only use half) how do you think that would turn out?
Yes, they’ll still probably fade a bit. Too dark is better than not dark enough!
I would be really interested to hear how the color recipe you described would turn out. Be sure to write on here and let me know. The indigo might be a great addition. I noticed that the RIT navy color is very purple-based, so the indigo might offset it some.
Great tutorial. I followed all the steps and I love the color of my jeans except they are kind of blotchy. Did I do something wrong? Do you have any suggestions for me?
If you get the jeans thoroughly soaked (then wrung out) before dunking them in the dye, the dye should work uniformly. That’s the only thing I can think of. If any other readers have had this issue, or have another suggestion, leave a comment!
Hi There, Im about to Dye my jeans and found your post through a desperate search for advice….. How are the jeans wearing? Did the color fade quickly? So curious! Wish me luck.
Thanks
Heidi
The jeans are wearing really well…they’ve been dyed for almost exactly a year now and are looking about the same. Granted, I usually just wear them on weekends and i ALWAYS wash them on cold, inside-out. But I’ve felt like it was well worth the time and couple bucks of RIT dye
lemme know how yours goes! Esp if you come up with a different “recipe’ for the RIT dye color
Thanks for the before and after pictures. I need to dye a denim dress for my daughter and she wants that darker color that you have on your 100% cotton pair.
The dress is lighter than your jeans were but if they could come close to the cotton pair she and i would be thrilled.
thanks again!
Lara
You would fit in well with my family…everyone sews and is all about reclaiming stuff. Gotta say that I’m impressed with the stretch jeans new color.
thanks eric –i will be relieved when dark jeans aren’t in style…they’re high-maintenance! But I’m glad a couple bucks worth of dye brought back at least one of the pairs
We got Fiona from the pound at 3 months. They called her a “pastel Tortoiseshell”. I’m sure she had been born outside. There were lots of brothers and sisters but no mother. She’s VERY independent, she doesn’t like to be picked up or hugged (too much anyway); but if you let her come to you she’s very loving and fasinated to be in the same place as humans.
HA! They are definitely look-alikes. Edith has little tiny patches of the same color orange as Fiona. What is her temperament like? Edith is secretly very loving, but keeps up a rough hell’s angels exterior.