I love a good DIY project, so when the folks at Babyville Boutique asked if I'd like to try out some products from Dylon Dyes, I responded with an enthusiastic yes! After taking the Flat and Handwashing Challenge this year, I was really intrigued by those who were dyeing their flats all sorts of gorgeous colors. I looked over and saw my stack of stark white prefolds and thought they could use a make over!
Dylon Dyes is part of the Dritz and Prym family of products (as is Babyville Boutique) and they offered to send me an assortment of their high-quality, colorful dyes to review. Their permanent fabric dyes are specifically designed for hand dyeing in warm water straight from the tap and are formulated to last without fading.
I just simply followed the directions on the Dylon Dyes packing to get started:
First, start off by weighing your dry fabric, then wash throughly and leave damp. One packet of dye will dye up to ½ pound of fabric so you can plan accordingly and use more of less depending on the shade you desire.
You'll need rubber gloves, a large non-porous bowl (pot or sink), salt, water, and of course your Dylon Dye.
Fill your measuring cup with 4 cups of warm water. Make sure you put on your rubber gloves, then dissolve the dye in the water by stirring thoroughly.
Next, fill your bowl (or pot or stainless steel sink) with enough warm water to fully cover your fabric and allow it to move freely. Add in 4 tablespoons of salt and stir to dissolve. Then, add your dye and stir well. I took precautions and laid a garbage bag on my porous countertop just in case of spills.
Then, submerge your fabric in the bowl. This is the important part - STIR for 15 minutes. Really, stir it for 15 minutes. Then, stir it regularly for another 45 minutes. I can't stress the importance of this enough. I didn't stir well with my first prefold and it turned out blotchy with some areas lighter than others. Not an attractive look.
Once the 45 minute period is up, you're ready to rinse your fabric in cold water. This may take a while as I rinsed until the water was running almost clear.
Next, wash your item in warm water and dry away from direct heat and sunlight. I will admit that I just dried these prefolds in the dryer. They're only prefolds after all. Had it been an article of clothing of item for my home I would have followed these directions explicitly. I also chose to wash them separately for the first wash (for example. I washed the red and pink separately from the blue and purple) just in case the dye hadn't been rinsed thoroughly enough, I didn't want the colors to bleed.
Overall, I'm really happy with the end result! I love looking over at this colorful stack of prefolds now!
As a disclaimer, I don't use prefolds as diapers normally. I use them for just about everything else though - burp clothes when babies are small, then to wipe dirty hands and faces when they're older.
caedmen says
This is great! I use my prefolds for both diapers and burp cloths. I could dye them different colors so I knew which were used for what.
Courtney says
Great idea! I love anything that will make stains less visible 🙂
Alexis says
I tried dying some prefolds before my daughter arrived last time(different dye), and they NEVER stopped bleeding color, do these still run every time you wash them? I tried the hottest water, vinegar, you name it, to try and get them to stop running, in the end I didn't feel comfortable using them, because they kept dying any other prefolds that were in the wash with them muddier colors.
Ruth V. says
I haven't washed them a bunch yet. I just finished this project but will update it if I find they keep bleeding. I'll wash them with like colors for the first several washes probably just in case.
Zephyr Hill Blog says
I love the idea of dying prefolds and flats for burp cloths and then giving as gifts. Beautiful photos, Ruth!
Naomi says
Beautiful! I would love to do that, but wonder if dye is good to have on baby's skin... thoughts?
Ruth V. says
I'm not sure I would dye prefolds I actually use as diapers - maybe once they've been washed a ton. I mainly use these to wipe up messes for now. And will use them as burp cloths with the next baby. I might add some cute fabric down the center too to dress them up.
Jennifer says
I have some high quality prefolds I used for both my kids and am saving for a possible third. I'm filing this away for that nesting phase 🙂
Daniannieb says
These prefolds are beautiful. My sister and I have actually thought about tie dying some prefolds sometime. Dip dying with layers of color would be pretty, too.
Alayna says
How many of your prefolds did one package dye? Just curious!!
Jennifer says
Do you think this would work to dye diaper covers made of PUL or FOE?
MotherhoodLooms says
Oh, this looks so fun! Now I'm imagining tie-dying!
Emily Carrington says
How awesome is this? Turn something plain into something fun! Have you done a multi colored prefold?
Ashleigh Swerdfeger says
This is the neatest idea! You can decorate your prefold to mate covers and all sorts of things. They are really pretty! I'm glad the dyes don't damage anything.