Dip Dyed Curtains

I bought my house several months ago and finally got around to painting some walls. I was loving the color of paint I chose (jean jacket blue in case anyone was wondering) but I wasn't crazy about the plain white sheer curtains. Orange is my favorite color so I was searching around for some white curtains with orange on them. Curtains are expensive and I couldn't find what I was looking for; apparently bright orange isn't a popular color people choose to put in their homes. The only option I had left was to take matters into my own hands. So I did a little research and went to the craft store to get some Rit DyeMore Dye. Before I knew it, my living room had that splash of orange I was looking for!

• Sheer Curtains (100% polyester)
• Rit DyeMore Liquid Dye (I used about 3/4 of a bottle for one pan full of dye and added some more water and dye to the pan for the second set of curtains I did. So depending on how many curtains you plan on dyeing and how vibrant of a color you want to achieve you might need more or less)
• Pan that will comfortably fit what you're trying to dye (I got mine on clearance and don't ever use it with food just to be safe)
• Tongs (these are also dedicated to nonfood tasks)
• At least 4 Clips
• Dish soap
• Measuring tape or ruler
• Rubber bands or hair ties
• Stove top
• Old towel

This is the time you need to decide what kind of a look you are going for. Do you want just a touch of color at the bottom? Color halfway up? Maybe from the top down? Whatever it is you decide, you need to make sure you tie it off with a rubber band or hair tie where you want the deepest of the color to end. Keep in mind you will still have lighter color above this line. You don't need to tie it off tightly, it serves no purpose in the actual dying process, it will just be a very handy reference for you. Once you find just the right spot for the deepest of the color to end, measure from the bottom of the curtain to that point and make sure to write it down because you will need this measurement if you want to do any additional matching curtains or the color will be at different heights. Finally, you just need to fold the top of you curtains up into a nice little package and secure it together with 2 or more clips. Just keep in mind that you will be clipping this whole top part of your curtain to your vent hood above the stove so try not to make it too thick if possible.

Fill your pan most of the way with water making sure to take into account the amount of space the curtains will take up. You don't want your pan to overflow when you put the curtains in! Turn on your stove and put the pan on the burner. Next you're going to put about a teaspoon of dish soap in the pan. I'm more of a "just dump a little in" kind of person, but feel free to actually measure it out. Now it is time to pour in the dye! I used about 3/4 of a bottle, but if you're aiming for a lighter color, you will probably want to use less. On the other hand, if your pan is much bigger, you may want to use more dye. Now that you have added all of the special ingredients, just stare at the pot in anticipation until it is just about to boil.

Once your dye mixture is almost boiling, grab your already prepared curtains and attach them to your vent hood or something else above the stove that is sturdy enough to hold them. I used 2 more clips to secure them to a ridge of metal on the inside bottom of the hood. As you are securing the top of the curtains, pay attention to the bottom as well. They need to be submerged in the dye just enough that the rubber band is at the surface of the dye. Once you get everything situated, take note of the time. I dyed mine for about 30 minutes, the bottle suggests longer for polyester, but I was happy with my results. You will likely have fabric that keeps trying to float to the top. This is where your tongs come in handy. Push the fabric back down and move the fabric around from time to time. It is also important to keep an eye on what the liquid is doing, you want to keep it in that just before boiling heat range. Its easy to get distracted and let it accidentally boil over, trust me.

Once you are a few minutes away from the 30 minute mark, you can unhook the curtains from the vent hood and dunk them down a little deeper into the dye. This will create the faded part of the curtain and help prevent such a hard line from the color to the white. How deep you dunk it is up to you, but you will want to do about the same length on any other curtains you do to keep them all relatively uniform. Use your tongs to get it all submerged and move it around.

* Something I learned after doing my first set of curtains is to make sure the curtains aren't touching the edges of the pan. I ended up with melted holes in my curtains. In the first two pictures, the fabric was unfortunately leaning on the edge of the pan. The final picture is of the second set of curtains I dyed. I moved the pan back a little on the burner so that the curtain came straight out of it instead of using the pan to rest on. This helped drastically with the problem. I admittedly did still have one small hole but I'm sure if I did it again I could end up with none.*

A few minutes after submerging the higher part of the curtain, you can turn off the burner and move the pan and curtain to your sink. Holding on to the top of the curtain, carefully lift it out of the pan and into the sink. Remember, the part that is dyed is going to be very hot! Start rinsing the fabric under the faucet beginning with hot water and gradually going to cold. When the water runs clear, add a little soap (I used laundry detergent, but you could probably just use the dish soap you used earlier) and wash it. At this point you can take the tie off of them as well. Once your curtain is all nice and washed, all that's left to do is dry it. I put mine in an old towel and squashed it really good to get most of the water out. Then I hung them up in the window and aimed a fan at them on high. I left the dog to supervise while I started on the next set of curtains. She did a great job supervising and got a treat for all of her hard work and dedication.

If you're anything like me, your stove is now a horrendous mess. Luckily the dye comes off of my stove easily with just some water, hopefully you will be just as lucky. Once you've cleaned up, all that's left to do is sit back and admire your newly colored curtains!