Dyeing Frenzy

Linen is such a great fabric for summer shirts. And I had three in my closet--but I rarely wore them. One was white, one white with pale blue-grey stripes, and one had multi-colored pale stripes. Pale is the operative word here and when I put them on, I looked pale too. Washed out. Tired.

I find that I still am tempted by clothes that would have looked good on me when my hair was dark. These three mistakes were due to that magical thinking.

So, I picked up some Rit liquid dye --one green and one blue--the grocery store. (I know, there are much better dyes available, but I was looking for a quick fix.)

I used the green on the blue striped shirt then, when it had soaked and was in the rinse process, gave the white shirt a dunking and pulled it out before it got as dark.

Then I poured out half of the green dye and stirred in some more water and the blue dye. In went the multi-colored stripes.

I'm pleased with the resulting colors. Admittedly there was some streaking but mainly on the sleeves which I roll up anyway.

I love my new green (and one blue-green) shirts. 

And when I saw on the internet that green is the chosen color of many of the Pro-Choice folks, it felt like a wonderful synchronicity had guided me to the dye pot--just as in the old days, a new widow might dye all her clothes black.