There is nothing worse than your favourite jeans aging on you. What was once a cool black denim, is now a washy grey. The dark indigo navy, is now more of a mid-blue. They still fit like a glove, but the shade just doesn’t pack a punch the way it did when you first put them on and felt like a god(ess). We have all been there, I too am a victim of washed out denim. You end up trying to stretch out the wears between washes, the thought of handing out another €60 to buy another pair is just too much to bear. Luckily, it is
Dylon Machine Dye to the rescue! These nifty little pods are an upgrade from their original machine dye, where you would have added the salt separately. The new and improved version has all the hard work done for you. You literally just pop it into your machine! I have put together a really easy to follow tutorial, helping you get to know the
Dylon Machine Dyes, so you can give your favourite jeans a new lease of life!
Step One: Get your jeans out of the wardrobe and ready. To achieve optimum results your fabric needs to be damp. I popped the jeans in a sink full of water and then squeezed them out a bit so they weren’t soaking.
Step Two: Pop your jeans in the drum of your washing machine. Make sure your machine is clean, no scummy bits around the edges as the dye will catch. I gave mine a good wipe down, getting rid of little bits of fluff and cleaning the rubber. Dylon Dye won’t cause any issues with your actual machine or washing experience, but a stained machine doesn’t look the nicest really, does it?
Step Three: Carefully peel the packaging off the colour pod and place it in the drum on top of your clothing or fabric.
Step Four: Pop on the wash, at either 30C - 40C. A full cycle is perfect, don’t cut it short.
Step Five: Do another wash with the jeans in the machine, adding some detergent. This is to rinse the excess dye from the fabric, otherwise you might pull out a drippy black mess.
Step Six: Dry as you normally would and love your life because you’ve got yourself some jazzy new jeans.
Some tips!
Ok, so the actual act of dying your jeans is pretty straightforward. There are however a few things you’ll have to be careful with. You’ll thank me later.
* Please, PLEASE be careful opening the dye. Although Dylon have made it very easy to open, spillage on your floor/clothes/hands will likely stain. Hands will eventually return to their normal colour- floors will not. Use with caution.
* The
Dylon Colour Pods are best used on Cotton, Linen and Viscose. Fabrics that are mixed with synthetics, like a Polycotton blend, will colour but it will likely be a lighter shade. Pure synthetic fabrics like polyester will not catch the colour and you will likely ruin the garment in the process. My jeans are actually a mixed material - 64% Cotton, 32% Polyester, 4% Elastane and as you can see they coloured brilliantly, the more natural fibres the better.
* If your garment is advised as ‘Dry Clean Only’, don’t try to dye it. Again, you’ll ruin the garment because it is not made to be put in a washing machine.
