Indigo Dyeing- My results!

Here’s a quick update on the results of my indigo dye bath from the other day.  You can view the earlier post here.  I love my color results!  The blues are really clear and rich and a shade I really like.  The whole process was quite easy and cleaned up pretty quickly with no stains!  I think I could have gotten the denim darker if I hadn’t dyed so many items so I’m contemplating over-dyeing just the denim in a separate dye bath.

Unwrapping the folded pieces was such fun!  I love how the folding and wrapping of my reversible skirt came out.  The color is rich and the pattern really interesting as it wraps around.

My pajamas are self drafted months ago and I had originally dyed them first in a mint bath- with horrible results!  It came out a horrid yellow color :(  So I over-dyed it first with coffee and then with the indigo.  I then did some gathering stitches to create the patterns on the pieces.  This was a great test piece as I’d never tried the stitching technique and the pj’s are only for home wear so no big deal if the results aren’t stellar.  The stitching did work well, but next time I’m going to do it before sewing the pattern together.  I’ll just stitch on the cut out fabric, stitch and dye and then complete the sewing.  The front came out nice but the back of the pants are a hot mess since the fabric was thick and the dye didn’t penetrate as well.

Here’s the denim!  I do like the color so I may just do one pair in this color and a second pair later that are dyed darker. Next time I’ll also just dye the cut out pattern pieces instead of all the yardage. If I had a bigger vat this wouldn’t be an issue but the fabric was just too much for the scale I’m working in.  Because I dyed so many pieces I notices after about the 6th or 7th dip the color didn’t darken any more.  Also it was a bit darker before I rinsed it and set it with vinegar, but at least i know all the excess dye is out so I won’t turn blue!

Here are some pics of the ready-made clothing I also dyed in the indigo bath.  The shirt and skirt are from Boden.  The polo was originally light blue and I never wore it, reminded me of a school uniform, and the skirt was white and I dipped it in sections to produce the fade.  The skirt also must have been sewn together with polyester thread since it did not take the dye.  I like the effect!  The shrug is a really soft grey angora/wool piece I’ve had forever, not sure where I got it, maybe Anthropologie?, but I like how the color came out.