This post is sponsored by Rit. All opinions expressed are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that keep The Crafted Life making!
I don’t know about you but I am completely over this dull, grey winter weather. I am ready for sunshine, warmth, and all the colors of spring. To tide me over until that day comes, I decided to bring a bit more life into my home with a fun dye project.
Rit turned 100 years old this year (OMG can you believe it?!) so to celebrate a century of color, and to give my dining room a much needed makeover, I recreated one of their vintage ads with a modern twist!
I completely fell for the teals and yellows in the ad above, plus how cute are all the flowers?! It was exactly the type of inspiration needed to beat the winter blues. Here’s how I did it:
Time: 30 minutes – 1 hour
Materials:
– Rit All-Purpose Dye in teal, emerald, and golden yellow
– Cotton placemats (in white)
– Cotton Napkins (in white)
– 5 Gallon bucket or large tray
– Gloves
You can certainly use your washing machine to dye the placemats, but because this project involves two colors, I found it easier to just make two separate dye baths, in either a bucket or tray, so that you can save some time by working on both projects at the same time. If your placemats and napkins are made of natural fabrics (cotton, linen, etc) you can use the Rit All-Purpose Dye like I did. If you happen to find ones you love that are synthetic (like polyester, acrylic, etc) just make sure to use the Rit DyeMore line instead.
Fill your container with hot water and add dye. You’ll need to add half a bottle of dye for every 3 gallons of water used and there should be enough water in your container for the fabric to move freely. For my placemats, I did a mixture of teal and emerald (mostly teal with about 3 caps full of emerald).
Avoid placing the placemats in the bath folded so that the dye takes evenly all over. Leave fabric in the dye bath for 15-30 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Once you’ve gotten the fabric to the color you want (keep in mind that it will dry a tad bit lighter), remove from dye and rinse until the water is clear. Wash in warm water and detergent, dry and iron. Do the same process for the napkins, but use the color golden yellow instead.
And just like that you have an instant vibrant color burst for your table! Rit has 35 colors that you can mix and match (giving you about 500 color options in total), so even if teal and yellow aren’t your thing, you can recreate this look for yourself in a palette that you love!
If you’d like the take the daisy theme one step further, you can grab this free printable designed by Megan Roy right here to hang on your wall! Print one or three or even more! They are free after all.
18″ x 24″ Daisy Printable
8″ x 10″ Daisy Printable
