Dying a White Dress Blue

I haven't forgotten about that promise to keep blogging post-graduation! I've moved to a new state and started my new job, and it's about time I blog about my most recent project- the white dress I dyed blue for graduation.

I bought this dress at Goodwill for $6, loved it, and wanted to wear it to graduation, but it just looked too bridal once I put it on with my jewelry (pearls I've worn for previous graduations).

I've never dyed anything before, but have heard from friends and fellow bloggers that it's easy, so I purchased some "Brilliant Blue" iDye from a local Madison craft store. Note: Before you purchase iDye, check and see if your fabric is synthetic or natural. My dress is 100% cotton, so I purchased iDye for natural fabrics. If you're unsure, check out their website for pointers.

The directions on the package are pretty straightforward, though I recommend using a BIG pot. I used the biggest one I had (not very big at all) and ended up spilling every time I stirred. Luckily, the blue water wiped right off of everything easily- no stains at all in the kitchen. Phew.

Visit the iDye website (or RIT,which many recommend) and decide which set of directions you want to follow. I used the stovetop directions, but here's the overall gist of it:

1. Prewash your fabric. It should be wet when you begin the process.
2. Fill up pot with warm water (garment should be able to be submerged yet easily stirred) and turn on medium to high heat
3. Add the iDye packet to the water and stir.
4. Add your wet garment and bring to a simmer.
5. Add one cup of salt (mix with hot water first) and stir. Be careful doing this. If you dump it all in one clump, your fabric may turn out discolored in that spot. This is where having a big pot comes in especially handy.
6. Continue simmering and stirring for a half hour.
7. Rinse dye out (I did this in the tub and had no problems with staining, but it probably wouldn't hurt to do it in a bucket if you're worried about messes).
8. Wash with hot water and a mild detergent and dry. I did this by hand, since I didn't want to risk messing up anyone else's laundry later in our apartment dryers. And, as you can see, I hung it to dry in the shower for fear of drippy blue messes.

Here's the dress in action on graduation day (fellow model is my cousin Kate). This was a super hot day, and I was worried about my sweat turning blue, but the dress didn't stain me at all.

Annnd one more of the dress in white (for good measure). As you can see, the floral pattern didn't pick up the dye, leading me to believe that it must be at least partly synthetic.

All in all I was pretty pleased with the end result and will do this again- with a bigger pot next time. Do you have experiences (good or bad!) with dying clothes? Leave a comment and let me know!

The Happiness Project

I'm a major skeptic of feel-good movies and self-help books, though I'll admit some are better than others. But after a number of people recommended Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, I decided to give it a go.

I read it really quickly and not too closely (it was the last week of classes in my last semester of graduate school, after all), so I'm not going to give a thorough review or anything like that. Some parts were better than others, and I'm not going to start a regulated happiness project of my own (though Gretchen's blog suggests her readers do just that).

I did make a list, as Gretchen suggests, of the things that make me happy, and the activities I genuinely enjoy doing. This seems totally corny as I write about it now, but it's also a fitting time to think about it since I'm on the verge of making some changes in my life. Between experiencing a death in the family and selling all my free time to graduate school the past two years, I've had a lot of ups and downs and often, trouble deciding what I really like to do anymore. One thing I do still like doing is writing and blogging. Thanks to my information architecture class this past semester, I also know I (oddly) like coding and messing around with html, so I'm excited to make some improvements to the blog.

This month, I graduate, move to a new apartment, and start a new job. I'll be closer to my boyfriend and living near Chicago. I don't like making posts about my goals or what I'm going to do, because those kinds of things never actually pan out as planned, and I don't really know what I'm getting into yet. But I WILL be decorating a new apartment, and I have a Groupon to a fabric store. I also hear that I'll have to learn to preserve food, thanks to my newly-purchased CSA share. Simply Step Back will continue, though it might be different- so stay tuned.