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[violetlights]

Hello!

For one of the cosplays I'm doing, I need a pair of olive green shorts. It's winter, so I'm not going to find any in stores, and the only pair online that's my size is 30 bucks. I'm trying to spend as little money as possible here, so I was thinking about taking a pair of my old shorts and dyeing them.

I'm not sure if theres a specific way to go about doing this, what kind of dye to use, if the color of my shorts is going to mess it up, or anything. I've never dyed anything before.

My shorts are 100% cotton, and look like this:


Help?

[Falclon]

http://www.ritdye.com/content/shades-summer-dyed-jeans Here is a tutorial for dyeing jeans.

http://www.ritdye.com/colorit_color_formula_guide Here is where you can find the recipe for what color you want.

[violetlights]

Thank you very much!

Just to make sure; the jeans in the tutorial are white, will the fact that mine are blue affect how the color turns out? Should I try bleaching them first or something?

[JasonTerror]

From my experience in dying, If it's a darker color fabric, the color may be a little darker when you dye them..Like with me, I had a grey sweater I needed to dye navy blue (the closest color you could get) but it still has a slight hint of grey in the navy blue (the color it SHOULD be, oddly enough), but if it were white, I already know it would have been the shade I was originally going for..

Oh! Almost for got, I wouldn't bleach them. A lot of people say that bleaching things doesn't always get them all over the same color and it will be blochy, which you don't want..In turn, when you dye it it will be different shades in random spoits..

[Penlowe]

when you dye something that already has color, it's called over-dyeing.

As they are somewhat faded already, you could give them a long soak in something notorious for removing color, like OxyClean or comparable products, just to lighten them a bit more. Bleach proper is really harsh on fabrics and can eat right through natural fibers. If you were to bleach those to white, the fabric would be so weakened it might tear when you move.

As long as it's a darker olive green you are aiming for you will probably be okay. I think the little bit of blue left in those shorts will probably make them look really 'well worn' once dyed green, which may or may not work towards your end goal.

[MedievalGirl]

I wonder if it might be easier to find trousers the right color and cut them off. Olive green is easy to find in a military supply store and may cost less than the dye.

Just thinking out loud.