How to: Ombré Dye a Sweatshirt

Hey ghouls and creeps! The week after Halloween means catching up on projects that I had every intention of completing the month of October, but you know, life happens! Sometimes it comes in handy being a craft blog that covers creepy crafting content 365 days a year! About a month back I purchased this super cute and creepy bat sweatshirt from Target and knew that I would have to dye it a different color. Why is that, you ask? The reason for this pretty much immediate decision is that I simply should not be allowed to wear white. If I wear white, I will find a way to stain, damage, or dirty it in some irreversible way within five minutes of putting it on. So after receiving input from some folks over on Instagram I chose to go with an ombré technique. Let’s get started!

I rated this project as easy! Yes, there are some preparation steps and measuring involved, but overall I found this project pretty simple and a lot of fun! Skills and techniques needed for this project include prepping your sweatshirt with a thorough clean and soak, making a dyebath with varying dye concentrations, and dying your sweatshirt.

Step 1: Prepping your Sweatshirt: I first ran my sweatshirt through a wash and dry cycle, and later soaked my sweatshirt in the sink. To save time, run your sweatshirt through a wash cycle and skip the drying for later!

Pro-tip: You want your garment clean prior to dying, and wet so that the dye bonds evenly throughout! After cleaning and soaking your sweatshirt, set it aside in a safe water-resistant place while making your dyebath in the next step.

Step 2: Making the Dyebath: Fill a storage container(D:14″, L:20″, T:13″) with 9″ of hot tap water. After filling your container, put one Dylon dye packet contents into the water and stir. Following the manufacturer’s instructions add dye fixatives to the dye bath.

Step 3: Dying your Sweatshirt: Begin by dipping your garment all the way up to the furthest dye point, or completely submerge if you don’t want any white. After repeatedly dipping and pulling the garment out, I found that the color wasn’t becoming more vibrant near the hem. This meant that my dye to water ratio wasn’t high enough and that I needed more dye! *Insert palm to forehead emoji here. I ran to the craft store and retrieved more fabric dye. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of the purple Dylon in stock so I went with the RIT instead.

I began adding the RIT dye to the dyebath in thirds. With the first third added, I dipped my sweatshirt about 2″ under my furthest dye line and held it there for 5 seconds. I found continuously dipping, holding briefly, and pulling the garment out allowed me to get more of a gradient. If you want more identifiable lines between your color changes, simply hold your garment in the bath longer.

Continue to add your RIT dye to the bath as you get closer to the hem(or the bottom) of your garment. Once you get the hem pour any remaining RIT dye into the bath. Hold the bottom of your garment in the dyebath longer to achieve a more saturated color. Pro-tip: You always want your dye colors to appear darker than you really want in this step. After washing and drying the end result will be less saturated!

After being satisfied with my gradient, I began washing away the excess dye with warm then cold water. Continue to do this until the water runs clear. Wring the garment of excess water, and air dry or tumble dry your garment at this time.

Step 4: Post Care Instructions: Take note of the dye manufacturer’s post-care instructions. I would recommend washing your dyed garment separately in cold water for at least a few washes before combining it with other clothes in a wash cycle.

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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!