Dip-Dyed Eyelet Dress DIY

We've been obsessed with dip-dye and ombre as of late around our studios!  While ombre involves a big paintbrush and dye, dip dye is exactly how it's named...you simply dip the bottom of the garment into a container of dye!  We're so, so excited with how this technique is working on the pretty white eyelet dresses from Old Navy!  They add an extra punch to a plain white dress.  

What you need: 

– White Eyelet Dress (100% cotton material, ours was from Old Navy)

– 4 bottles of Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye in Fuchsia 

– Medium-sized bucket

– Clothesline and clothespins

– Tulip Surface Covers or plastic bag to protect your work surface.

Dip dyeing isn't hard to do at all!  Here's the steps you will need to follow: 1. Prewash dress without fabric softener and do not try. 2.  Add dye powder from all four Fuchsia dyes to plastic shoebox. Fill box with water and use stirring spoon to mix until dye is completely dissolved. 3. Cover floor with plastic sheeting. Hang dress from clothesline using plastic clothespins. 4.  Bring the box with the dye up to the dress so that the bottom of the dress is touching the bottom of the box. Tip: only allow the bottom hem of the dress to barely touch the bottom of the box…otherwise, the fabric will lay oddly in the dye and you’ll end up with white spots. 5.  Let soak 24 hours to allow the dye to travel up the dress. 6. Carefully remove dress from dye and rinse out excess dye in sink until water runs clear. Be very careful to not splash dye on upper part of dress. Line dry.

You will want to wash this dress by hand for the first 3-4 washings using a product like Woolite.  This way, you will be guaranteed that the white part of the dress won't be dyed a light pink.

Here's the bottom of another dress that we dip-dyed.  The reason that the dye does not take to the ornate detailing is because the threads used on this dress are not 100% cotton.  They are made up of a polyester blend and that blend rejects the dye.  It turns out to be such a cool effect.

Here's Alyson wearing the finished dress!  It looks perfect on her!

So, do you think you wanna give dip-dyeing a try?  What color of dip-dyed dress would you want?