Dying Fabric

Last week my Grandpa died.  He was an amazing Grandpa and although we are sad to say good bye  to him, he is in a much better place.  He served in the air force and due to a motorcycle accident just before he was about to ship out to fight in WW2, he became an airplane mechanic instead.  After he was discharged, he worked on space shuttles in the Apollo program.  He was the type of grandpa who was always busy puttering around in the back yard.  He grew us watermelons in the summer and pumpkins in the fall.  He always had tomatoes and baby carrots growing in his garden because he knew we liked them.  He was an amazing grandpa.  One day, he got sick, and wasn’t the same from that point on.  He ended up developing dementia and the last few years of his life, he was just a shell.  He was a Christian man and I know that he is now in heaven. 

This probably wasn’t the start you were expecting for this post, but he died one week after I had Em, and his funeral came just two weeks after I had Em.  My sister was put in charge of shopping for something for my newborn to wear since I wasn’t feeling up to shopping yet.  Believe it or not, it is hard to find funeral cloths for a newborn.  Everything is pink, which isn’t exactly a funeral color.  So my sister found this black and white dress, some tights, and a long-sleeved onesie , sweater, and had that I could die black.  She also found a black flower that I hot glued onto the had after I dyed it. 

Dying fabric is so much easier than someone would think.  I just followed the directions on the Rit dye box.  It is important to make sure you check the material that you are dying because there are slightly different directions for different material.  Since I was doing cotton, I dissolved the dye in some warm water, put it in a pot with more water, and added a cup of salt.  Once it was simmering, I wet my fabric with warm water and put it in the pot.

I stirred it with a chopstick for 30 min. and then rinced it until the water ran clear.  You just wash like normal, and done!  Super easy. 

She looked so sweet in her outfit.  I never thought I would be dying fabric one week after giving birth, but it worked out really well.  My sister pointed out that I should use this for when I have cloths that have stains.  I am terrible and drop things on my shirts all the time.  Now I have a plan for those ruined cloths :)