Thursday, April 17, 2008

Adventures in Crinoline Dyeing

When I found my first pictures of dyed crinolines I knew that someone I knew had to do it. If you have no idea what I am talking about right now visit this knottie bio. My old roommate happened to be the perfect person to try this out with and so we adventurously purchased a crinoline off of ebay.













It took a few trips to Wal-Mart, but Amber finally discovered that the RIT dye is stocked next to the laundry detergent. Guess that makes sense. She was seeking a raspberry shade and so she bought the color Wine.











We had to take it out and make sure it fit. There was a small emergency at the beginning when we lost the string to tie it with (it disappeared into the skirt).













My crafty sister saved the day by looping the string back through with a safety pin. I don't totally understand how this works but she is brilliant like that.

It's a perfect fit. And I know it looks great right now, but wait until you see what we came up with.

Just follow the instructions on the back of the bottle. We ran hot water in the washer, and did not add salt (the instructions are kind of unclear about this). After the washer was full of hot water we added the entire bottle of dye. We then let the water agitate to mix the color around.

The instructions said we shouldn't put dry fabric in so we put it in the shower first to get it wet.







It was kind of a monster effort to stuff that huge crinoline into our tiny dryer. Poor Amber burned her hands a few times (the water has to be as hot as possible), but I think it was worth it in the end.




















We pushed it down as far as it would go, and tried to spread it out around the middle of the washer. I opened the lid every 10 or 15 minutes to try to get different parts soaking underwater.
After all of the water had drained out of the washer and it had run on the spin cycle for a few minutes we opened the lid to find this!







We rinsed it out with warm/hot water until the water ran as clear as possible. The finished product hung dry in my shower.











Her colors are Chartreuse and Raspberry. Bridals are in July and I can't wait to see how this looks!
























We are all completely in love with it. I think it's exactly what we were hoping to create. Amber drove it home in the passenger seat of her car. Rolling down the windows while you drive around town is a great way to speed dry.
I think she looks pretty pleased with it. Thanks for letting me blog our little adventure Amber!

19 comments:

Aubree said...

That is quite the story to tell. It looks it dyed pretty evenly and has great color. SO fun!! I can't wait to see what it looks like under your white dress.

Unknown said...

If this wasn't the best idea in the world than I don't know what else is!! Thank you so much Jenna for helping me do this! I can't wait to wear it under my dress. I just want to put it on and wear it all over right now!!! You wouldn't believe the looks I got from people on my drive home. Ha ha ha. I loved it, and I love you.

Amber said...

"Cami" was me by the way... I guess my sister was logged in and I didn't know it.

Dawn and Spence said...

I remember this is exactly what you were telling me about! I SO love it!!!!

Tara Vorhes said...

it looks great! that will look so awesome poking out from a white or ivory dress...

Kate said...

That looks soo awesome!!

So - do you have to worry about your washer staining all your future washes with wine dye? Or do you run it through a few washes to clean it?

Guilty Secret said...

Some of the photos seem to have disappeared so I can't see it in pink :(

Blue-Eyed Bride said...

i love dyed crinolines. i wanted a blue crinoline, but my dress is full of its own crinoline and there's really not room for any more! this sounds like such a fun project!

Tiffany said...

Love it!! What a great shade of pink. So pretty.

Big Shot said...

I can't see your photos!! :( You're leaving me in suspense.

Big Shot said...

Okay, I'm super jealous. I actually was looking for exactly this - a pink petticoat, and although it occurred to me try dying one, didn't really think it could be done. I think there's a real market for this. You could totally sell these on etsy. Bra.....vo.

Guilty Secret said...

He he, fantastic, I love it! I don't think I'll be able to dye my crinoline because it's all attached under the skirt, but I could add another layer in blue if it's not pouffy enough at the bottom! Otherwise I'll just have to live vicariously through Amber... can't wait to see her photos!

So, how about you, Jenna? Will you dye yours? What colour?

Claire said...

What a fantastic project! You girls are so crafty. It turned out beautifully.

She's crafty, and she's just my type. said...

gettin crafty! Love it!

Phoebems said...

This looks like an adventure in extreme wedding effort! Wow!

Tag! You're it! List 6 things about yourself on your blog and pass it on... See details on my blog, engagemental.blogspot.com

Jenna said...

aubree-There is a little bit of variation in the color of the tulle, but you really can't tell unless you look very closely.

amber-I don't think people would look at you THAT strangely if you just wore it around.

Dawn-Maybe you should try it. I'm trying to create a Utah revolution.

If anyone else is curious, our washer is NOT dyed pink from this. But we made sure to run bleach through multiple times so it wouldn't stain.

claire-I am really not at all crafty. But I am glad I tricked someone into thinking that.

Anonymous said...

Did you just use 1 bottle or both?

Also, which water level setting did you use ? (low, med or high/large load)

Jenna said...

ang-Make sure the water is as hot as possible. We used both bottles because she wanted it to be extra dark!

Mareeyah said...

Wonderful! I love it how brides tend to be whimsical nowadays and wear something fun, instead of just the traditional things. I'm also planning to wear a colored petticoat under my white bridal gown, but I'll go for blue, as that's my and my fiance's favorite color. :-D