How to Change Red Jeans to Black Jeans

Red jeans are fun, but if the pair you bought is languishing in the back of your closet, perhaps it's time to transform them into something more wearable. Dyeing those red jeans black is a good choice, not only because black pants are a versatile wardrobe staple, but also because black dye is dark enough to cover up even the boldest red fabric. The process -- which you can do either in a bucket or a washing machine -- is easy enough to complete even if you've never tried fabric dyeing before. Jeans are also a good starter project for dyeing because they're made of cotton, which readily accepts dye and promises successful results.

Instructions

Bucket Method

1

Wash the jeans, and leave them wet.

2

Wear rubber gloves and an apron over old clothes. Cover surfaces around the area where you are working with sheets of newspaper or plastic bags. Open windows to help ventilate the area.

3

Mix the dye with about two cups of hot water in a small jar. Use an appropriate amount of dye, according to the directions on the packaging. Stir with a plastic spoon until the dye is fully dissolved.

4

Fill a bucket with enough hot water to cover the jeans. Make the water as hot as you can. If your tap water doesn't get very hot, add a pan or kettle of boiling water to the tap water in your bucket.

5

Add the dye solution to the bucket of hot water, and stir with a long-handled spoon. Add one tablespoon of laundry detergent to the dye bath and stir.

6

Submerge the wet jeans into the dye bath, and stir them around gently with the spoon to saturate the fabric evenly with the dye solution. Keep stirring for five minutes.

7

Add one cup of salt to the dye bath, and stir it around. Keep stirring, agitating the fabric, until the jeans have been soaking for a total of at least 30 minutes. Examine the fabric. If you can still see red, keep soaking the jeans and stirring them around for up to another 30 minutes.

8

Remove the jeans from the dye bath, squeeze the excess liquid back into the bucket and rinse them under warm water in the sink until the water runs clear.

9

Wash the jeans with laundry detergent, either by hand or in the washing machine.

Washing Machine Method

10

Wash the jeans, and leave them wet.

11

Fill a top-loading washing machine with enough hot water to cover the jeans and allow them to swish around. Use the hottest possible setting on the machine.

12

Add the recommended amount of black dye to the water, and set the machine to agitate -- use a wash cycle -- until the dye is dissolved. If the dye manufacturer recommends it, first mix the dye with two cups of hot water, and stir it with a plastic spoon. Then add the dissolved dye mixture to the machine. Add the dye directly to the water, not to the detergent section of the machine.

13

Place the wet jeans in the machine, and set it to agitate. After five minutes, add one cup of salt to the water, then agitate again for at least 30 minutes. Make sure your machine doesn't automatically switch to a rinse cycle and drain the water. You need continuous agitation in the dye solution for at least 30 minutes.

14

Lift the jeans up with a long-handled spoon, or with your hands while wearing rubber gloves, and examine the color. If you still see red, repeat the agitation setting for up to another 30 minutes or until you are happy with the results.

15

Switch the machine to a rinse cycle. When the cycle finishes, add laundry detergent to the machine, and wash the jeans on a regular hot setting.

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