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Hello,
Can anyone give me some advice on how to "mute" or make less vibrant a yellow colored cotton shirt? I am completely clueless when it comes to anything clothing although my frustrations with fit and color make me want to get into it and learn to modify things myself. (I'm even thinking of taking a sewing class).
I thought mild bleach? Grey dye? But what dye and how?
Any help would be appreciated!
Hello,
Can anyone give me some advice on how to "mute" or make less vibrant a yellow colored cotton shirt? I am completely clueless when it comes to anything clothing although my frustrations with fit and color make me want to get into it and learn to modify things myself. (I'm even thinking of taking a sewing class).
I thought mild bleach? Grey dye? But what dye and how?
Any help would be appreciated!
I think there are other things you can try- soaking in tea may make it dingy, soaking in vinegar may fade it more. It just depends. Washing on hot may make it fade, as will sticking it out in the sun.
If you want to do actual dying, Rit seems to be the main dye. I used it on one shirt I bought and immediately got turquoise gel pen on. It had a good life after I dyed it turquoise. It’s pretty easy to do in a sink.
Rit Color Remover is used primarily to remove or reduce color from fabric prior to dyeing with Rit Dye. It reduces the colour to an off-white or cream colour, creating a clean, even base colour for dyeing. Color Remover is suitable for use on most washable fabrics, including cotton, linen, rayon, silk, and nylon. It may have a limited effect on polyester, depending upon how it was dyed commercially. Color Remover is a non-chlorine, reductive type of bleach that will not damage or deteriorate washable fabrics as chlorine bleach will. The stovetop method is the most effective at removing colour, maintaining a constant simmer throughout the process. Some fabrics lose their colour in as fast as 10 minutes, others can take an hour or two to achieve a cream colour. Light colour changes, such as brightening or removing stains from white fabrics, can be achieved using Color Remover in a washing machine. Color Remover will not remove the pattern or print from a fabric or the indigo dye from denim.
A few words of caution from someone who sews and has used dye many times. Most dyes require you to put the clothing in the hottest water available. If your shirt is 100% cotton, you may have significant shrinkage. Also, be careful when you wash the shirt in the future - the dye might bleed onto other clothes in the wash. Also any time you dye fabric you risk uneven coverage so be sure to have enough water in the basin or machine. There are videos online that show how to mute colors using salt but I've never tried it.
Is it possible to use a scarf to offset the brightness of the shirt? Or maybe an open vest? Yellow pairs nicely with grey so maybe if the shirt is worn with grey slacks it will appear to lose some of its brightness.
Fill your washer with water, no clothes. Add a cup or so of bleach to the water. Agitate to mix the bleach in. Throw your yellow shirt in, make sure it’s covered with the bleach water. Eith soak it for a few minutes, or just let your washer finish it’s cycle. Rinse again. That *should* fade it evenly. Since it’s cotton, I wouldn’t do hot water. Cool should work.
I'm not sure I'd risk ruining the shirt with the possibility of overdyeing you might not like, bleaching or color removal that has unexpected results, or bleaching or overdyeing that goes wrong/blotchy. Might just be better to let it go to Goodwill and look around for a shirt with a color more to your liking.
On the Rit site you will find color formulas. First be sure you know whether you are working with cotton or a man-made fabric. The dye you use will be different as well as the color name.
Under the correct fabric site you click on the formula section. You can find the color that best matches the color you want. It will involve using a yellow dye. Read the formula for what proportion of what colors you need to add to assimilate your color.
It may not be exact but you can get an idea of what you need to do. For instance I had a magenta beach robe I wanted to replace but the nearest color I could find was hot pink. So I looked through the magenta tones to see what had been added to bright pink dye to make the color closer to what I wanted.
I'm not sure I'd risk ruining the shirt with the possibility of overdyeing you might not like, bleaching or color removal that has unexpected results, or bleaching or overdyeing that goes wrong/blotchy. Might just be better to let it go to Goodwill and look around for a shirt with a color more to your liking.
If I was comfortable with giving my shirt to Goodwill...I might as well try and 'fix' it to my liking first, I would think.
1) the type of tea will determine the color.
Black tea gives a beige color. That would soften a yellow cotton shirt nicely.
Green tea will give only a very pale tint.
Thai tea gives a yellow-beige.
Some herb teas might work, depending on the plants involved.
Coffee gives a greenish-brown color.
2) after a thorough rinse, you don't need to worry about color getting on other clothes.
3) use fabric that is mostly plant-based, cotton, linen, or rayon. Hemp might work, I've never tried it. Ditto for animal sourced fabrics, silk and wool. Synthetics might take a little color, more if you actually boiled them in the tea. That works for Rit dye, too.
4) use a container large enough that the fabric/garment (hereafter just "fabric") won't be scrunched up. I use a large enamel cooking pot.
Fill halfway with boiling water, and add several tea bags. Try 5 bags per gallon to start. Steep for ten minutes or so.
5) remove the tea bags! They'll make blotches on the fabric if you leave them in, and they may tear open, strewing bits of tea leaf everywhere, each bit leaving a darker spot. Ask me how I know...
6) dampen the fabric with plain water (that makes the color absorb more evenly).
7) Put the fabric in the pot, making sure it is all submerged and not bunched up. Let it sit in the tea for ten minutes, stirring and poking as desired. Pull part of it out to check the color; it will look several shades darker than once it has been rinsed and dried, so if it is already darker than you like, it's probably perfect. For maximum color, leave it in overnight.
8) pull out the fabric, let drain, then rinse thoroughly and dry. If it smells too much like tea, toss it in the washer.
Discard the used tea (pour it on plants, most like the acidity). Most of the color will have been absorbed, and you probably don't want to drink it.
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