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Melly Sews

Melly Sews

DIY Dyed Skinny Jeans

by 19 Comments

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So after all my teasing yesterday, here is the project – dyed turquoise skinny jeans. I had Tater take some pictures today so I could get them on the blog, since Hubby doesn’t get home until after dark.

I am sooooo happy with how these turned out. And total amount I spent on the jeans and the dye I used? $5.00. I’m pretty pleased with that, too.

Here’s the how to. First I purchased these on half-off day at the thrift store. I purposely looked for jeans that had a good amount of stretch to them and fit me OK in the rear. Unfortunately, these were also bell bottoms.

So I followed this tutorial for taking the jeans in. I know there are a bunch of tutorials about changing regular jeans to skinny jeans, but I found this to be the best one because of how she handles the topstitching  – it’s more work, but I think it’s worth it in the final result. You can’t tell that these weren’t skinny jeans to begin with. A tip I will add – I use upholstery thread to do my jeans, not denim thread. My machine hates denim thread – it’s too rough or something – and I just get tons of knots and thread breakage. Upholstery thread is smoother, just as thick, and unless you look with a magnifying glass, you really can’t tell the difference.

Then I followed this tutorial to bleach the color out of the jeans. They got soaked in bleach for most of a day, and when I was done they looked like this. Same jeans, I promise.

And finally I dyed them with Procion MX Fiber Reactive Dye – not RIT. I can’t rave enough about this dye. It’s bright, vibrant, and perfectly even colored. Read more about this kind of dye here.

And I ended up with these.

Since I’m a little older than the trendsetters, I’m not ready to wear my bright jeans with another bright shirt, or with a shorter shirt – yet. So I toned them down with a lot of neutrals. But now I’m jonesing for a mustard colored shirt – don’t you think these would look great with a mustard top? I think it’s on my must sew list.

Now if I could just get through these last couple patterns I’m procrastinating on…

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Comments

  6. Justine of SewCountryChick

    Cool idea. I never thought to just bleach my jeans to get the color right! The bleach probably softens them too.I so want a bright red pair

    Reply

  12. Stacey

    I think they’d look fabulous with a mustard top. People mostly wear black this time of year where we live and so I’m having to tone down my brights. I love the bright color trend but don’t want to stick out more than I do with my three screaming children.

    Reply

  14. Delia

    Pretty! I’ll have to check out that dye. Is it more color fast than Rit dye? I hate how much dye washes out of Rit dyed items over time. Also…I need to skinnify more of my jeans. I did it to one but stopped there. Thanks for the reminder! You look great!

    Reply

  16. Rach H @ FamilyEverAfter

    Dude. You look awesome! Mustard shirt for sure!! 🙂 Ok, I have been wanting to try that dye for some time, and to try this to some jeans. I have a huge question… what does the denim feel like, after soaking in bleach for so long? Is it stiff, or do they feel ok? Do you think the fibers will hold up well? Basically, I want to know if you think its worth the work before investing time in this. The look and price is AWESOME! I just wanna make sure they would hold up well. I’d love to hear about your experience so far. Oh, and thanks for linking with me, I’m featuring you tonight!

    Reply

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