DIY All Up in My Eye!

STEP TWO/THREE

STEP ONE: Pick out a pair of shorts that you are willing to part with….ombre is for life. Now I went looking on Pintrest and YouTube for a “how-to” video, but as usual the processes were very “Rachel Ray” and not very “Martha Stewart”. My first attempt via Pintrest was laughable…..I followed all the steps right, placed the shorts in the wash to ring out the extra dye. When the cycle ended I ran to the washer to only learn that I had successfully washed out all of the dye…..yeah, it was awesome. TAKE TWO….

STEP TWO: Find a plastic bucket, I used a square floor mop bucket….Im glad that I could put the bucket to use! I then placed the shorts in the bucket to determine the water level of the bucket. Once the waterline was determined, I mixed together water and bleach; my best guess was two parts water, one part bleach. From there I let the shorts soak overnight so that they would absorb as much bleach as possible.  Bleaching the area you want to dye allows for a blank canvas, which is what I needed.

STEP THREE: Now we are on my second Christmas morning….remember the first one was a bust with the color washing out. I woke up to a pair of shorts that had been 75% bleached, jackpot! Now that I had a blank canvas, I let the ombring begin (ps I just created a new word). I went to a local craft store and purchased navy and chartreuse as my colors. The navy was for the top portion of the short to make the denim slightly darker and a little more rich in color. There are a variety of different dye options, but I used iDye.  Now the directions on the packet really don’t pertain to you, especially if you are looking to ombre your shorts. Here are your modified directions:

STEP FOUR

Run your hot water so that it gets to a scalding level. 
Fill your bucket with the hot water and gage the appropriate water level. 
Empty the packet in the hot water and stir untill the packet is 100% dissolved. Oh and ps, WEAR GLOVES AND BLACK CLOTHES WHEN DYING. 
Place the shorts in the dye mixture, but only the area you are looking to dye. 
Add 1 cup of salt to the dye while mixing at the same time. 
Once complete, let the shorts sit for 30 minutes. 
After the 30 minutes is complete, pull out the shorts and ring out the access dye until little to no dye comes out.
REPEAT with 2nd color in a separate bucket….I used my sink. 
I recommend getting two buckets so that you don’t have to toss the color just yet! More projects!

STEP FOUR: Repeat the process above, but with the second color. Since I used a lighter color on the bottom portion of the pant, I kept it in for longer than 30 minutes, in the event that the color would wash/fade after the first wash. If the colors are not meshing well, take a tooth brush on the line where the two colors meet and brush; this should bring some of the color together more cohesively. 

STEP FIVE: Once you have washed out the dye to the best of your ability, let them dry just for a little bit…..just for good measure. After a couple of hours, place the shorts (alone) in the washer under cold water with a mild detergent. Now here is my THIRD Christmas morning moment……I ran to the washer and pulled out an amazing pair of ombre shorts. I was quite impressed with myself!! I popped those bad boys in the wash and got the rest of my outfit ready for brunch!

Now I didn’t want to waste the leftover dye, so I took two old items from my closet (1) a chambray shirt from Old Navy and (2) a white tunic cover-up. I placed the chambray shirt in the navy mixture, just enough to make a subtle yet funky impact on the top! Since all the leg work for the step by step had been done, all you need to do is place the piece of clothing in for 30 minutes or more……all based on your discretion.