What else can you dye??? Dying teatowels, mats and cushion covers!

The dying bug is hard to shake! I had intended to do the towels and if that was successful, then give the curtains a go. Then of course if you are doing the curtains and the cushion covers on the couch match the curtains - it makes sense to do them as well doesn't it?? I thought so too! and the extra dye for the purple ones was a whole $4. I thought the budget could stand that and so I went ahead and did them as well.


Here's what (else) I did...

These are the original cushion covers...

And this the new improved version - The purple was a good match, they are just brighter. The green ones are an entirley different colour. If I was going to do this again, I would WASH the cushion covers in the machine and try to get out any fabric protector that hadnt worn off, off. I think that that is the cause of the patchiness.

The $5 cotton IKEA mat on the kitchen floor. Its on its last legs and has been washed many many times...

The mat after it was dyed. This mat just got the left over dye in the bath so it wasnt as strong as the dye bath I used for the cushions and curtains even though they were all done together. I think the patchiness is the same "not wet through" issue as the mat was VERY heavy and VERY wet. As an experiment, It was OK and I'd do it again!

I was getting quite excited dying the curtains - there is no proper "before shot" as these were the first thing I thought of doing. We use a LOT of teatowels in our house (cheaper than paper towel) and some are in a fairly scary state of threadbareness! Anyway - this is the before image...

And this - the after. They went through the "leftover dye" bath rather than full strength, but I thought they would come out in a stronger colour as they were all 100% cotton - according to the label... I was hoping that the blue ones would go green and the redish ones more purple rather than just a tint - not that its detracted from their teatowel purpose in anyway!

Score card:Green-ness: 3/5 Not as much water used as the other items but still of concern
Frugal-ness: 5/5 No cost as the whole experiment was left overs and already hads!
Time cost: An extra 1/2 hour per item - and a much needed cuppa!
Skill level: Pretty easy, especially if you have already dyed things
Fun-ness: Can be tooooo much fun - very hard to know when to stop... Try not to pop through your husbands grey 1980's grey suit, no matter how much better it will look in patchy bottle green!!!