i am no no no good at keeping my whites white. this was made even harder when ramona came around. she is active and into everything. so there are stains on the knees of her pants and on the belly of her onesies. and now that’s she eats what we eat? forget about it. food is everywhere.
i recently discovered iDye at my local art supply store. it’s a dye that is done in the washing machine. i’ve never dyed clothes before, RIT or otherwise, but this looked relatively easy and painless so i thought i’d give it a shot to hopefully extend the life of some cloth diapers and white onesies. besides their stains, they were in fine condition.
simply follow the instructions on the back of the package. make sure you have at least a cup of kosher salt on hand. voila. new clothes. they didn’t turn out perfect but i also didn’t pre-wet them AND i put the dye in after the clothes when the package clearly stated to put the dye in first. what can i say? i have a problem following rules.
you have to stay close to the washing machine to make sure it’s agitating the clothes for about an hour (for me this meant resetting to the wash cycle every 15 minutes). ramona and i took this opportunity to play in the basement stairwell where she could ham it up and have a moment with my barn clogs.
Share
5 Responses to what to do with your not-so-white whites
questions, comments, feedback? please leave a note for me below. i'd love to hear from you!
welcome
Most true sentence ever, “I have a problem following rules.” They are only suggestions, for other people.
I REEEEAAAALLLLYYY need to do this. I have this fantasy of having perfectly while loads of laundry but somehow they always get dingy when I get lazy and throw a towel or something in with a load of darks. I also have that rule following problem…
great tip! is it fine to use the washer right after? I use a shared washer and I want to make sure it doesn’t ruin it
rachel, you should probably run a load of darks or rags or even just water with soap after you do this. i have always done that just to be careful and, knock on wood, haven’t had any clothes dyed that weren’t supposed to be.
That pony tail is super cute & I love Ramona’s tights. I can never keep whites clean, which is why I wear so much black. Since having Lulu our whites load has increased but we have this stuff called NapiSan which you put in with the whites load to make them bright & white, plus the sun here bleaches the whites whiter. Still there’s always one tiny stain you just can’t get out.