Name: Liv Love

Message: hello...with the fall approaching...I have a favorite pair of white denim jeans I would love to turn into a dark blue jean denim...what is the best color and how many boxes and what method is best...washing machine or boiling in a pot?  Thank you SOOOO much for your anticipated response...had to ask an expert.

Do NOT buy any dye that comes in boxes! You should buy a better quality of dye, instead, if you are dyeing cotton.

The dye that comes in boxes is a bad type of dye for cotton, called all-purpose dye. All-purpose dye is a pain to apply because it requires nearly-boiling water to perform its best (this will probably shrink your clothing!), and even then it fades very quickly, and bleeds in the laundry forever. It is just plain not acceptable as dye. It is also high-priced for the amount of dye it contains. You would need a great many boxes of all-purpose dye to dye a small washing machine load to a dark color. In a small cooking pot, it would take one package of all-purpose dye to dye a pound of fabric to a pastel shade, two boxes for a medium shade, four boxes for a dark shade, and eight boxes for black; multiply this by the number of pounds your fabric weighs. The results would not last long, and they'd ruin anything else you washed the garment with.

There is a special warning for those who want to duplicate the look of blue denim by dyeing their jeans. It cannot be done! You will never be able to dye white denim to look like blue denim, no matter how good the dye you use. The reason for this is that blue denim has white threads woven in one direction, along with blue threads woven in the other direction. You cannot achieve this look by dyeing a garment; the only way to do it is by dyeing the threads before weaving them into denim. Once you dye your white denim, you will just have a solid-color blue twill.

Dyeing in a cooking pot is expensive, because the cooking pot should never be used for food preparation again, and you should avoid cheap aluminum pots, because the aluminum can alter the dye color. It is better to avoid hot-water dyes when dyeing cotton. A cool water dye such as Procion MX avoids all this hassle and performs far better, besides. If you buy Jacquard brand Procion MX dyes, I like their "Midnight Blue" for a dark indigo color.

If you do want to go ahead and turn your white pants into a solid color twill, blue or otherwise, you need to get some decent dye. You should get a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. "Dylon Washing Machine Dye" is also good, but it is available only in Europe, not in North America, and you cannot use "Dylon Permanent Dye" in the washing machine, though it's pretty good in a large plastic basin or bucket. The easiest way to dye a garment a solid color is in the washing machine.

You can buy fiber reactive dye from any of the companies listed on my "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World" page. For instructions on how to dye clothing in the washing machine, see this page: "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?" You will need dye, soda ash, and salt.

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