How to Dye a Brown Sweater Black
One easy way to revitalize treasured old clothing is to dye them a new color. Black is the easiest color to dye clothing, as it can cover up whatever color was present before. Black goes with any other color and will cover up many flaws and imperfections in a fabric. It is an ideal color for dying a brown sweater, as most other colors would require you to bleach the sweater. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Wash the sweater before you dye it. If it is an old or delicate sweater, wash it by hand. Let it dry completely.
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Find a black fabric dye for your sweater. Most craft stores sell clothing dye, or you can order online. Rit Dye offers many different colors, including several shades of black.
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Wet the sweater thoroughly just before you're ready to dye it. When it is totally soaked with water, turn on your washer to its hottest wash setting.
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Put on a pair of plastic gloves to keep the dye from marking your hands. Scoop up about two cups of the hot water from the washer into a pot or measuring cup, then dissolve the dye powder in it.
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Pour the dye water back into the washing machine as the basin fills up. When it is full, put in the brown sweater and close the lid.
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Run the wash cycle twice to help the dye infuse the sweater. Open the lid every ten minutes and move the sweater around to ensure that the dye sets in evenly. If you don't do this, the sweater can twist up and come out with a black and brown tie-dye effect.
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After two wash cycles, let the washer move on to the rinse cycle. When this cycle is finished, squeeze the sweater to make sure no dye is coming out of it. If it does, put it through another rinse cycle. When the water runs clear, take out the sweater and hang it up to dry overnight.
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Tips & Warnings
Run some old towels through the washer after you dye the sweater to remove remnants of the dye out of the washer.
If your sweater is made of wool, do not use a washing machine. Instead, dissolve the dye into a vat or large bowl of room-temperature water and soak the sweater in it for several hours.
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