DIY Wednesday III (Part 2)

I bought this top in 2008. Or perhaps, in 2007.  

(Who keeps track of purchase dates when the buying never stops?)

A shade that was formerly known as white

I had spent good times and gathered many a sweet memory with it, among others, at our 28th birthday celebration hosted by the sayang Jimbas. 

Lokman & yours truly. Bang Long and Kak Long, they call us.
Notice the youthfulness and slim line silhouette? We have both since 'grown'.

Typical of every owner of almost bursting to the seams closets worldwide, I tend to "forget" the existence of silent old friends. If only my clothes could speak, I bet they would scream my name at night. 

Believe it or not, I have always wondered, what do I do with yellowed cotton tops? I have donated some away but quite a few pieces are still kept in the closet because I honestly love them. I just don't have enough chances to wear them so often (fine, I should probably buy less). 

And thus I embraced my inner DIY-goddessness on Wednesday night and here I am showing you how I tried to get on the mint bandwagon before it's too late. 

1. Tools - Dylon cold dye in Dawn Pink and Turqoise something (RM6.40 each)*, cold dye fix (RM1.80), rubber gloves (RM2.75 for 5 pairs), salt (RM0.50), tongs (do not re-use for food prep).
2. Dye fix+salt mix. Only 125g of salt is required. We're supposed to use 1 sachet for each can of dye but I only bought one, and not two. Don't ask. Pregnancy brain is to blame.
3. What Dawn Pink looks like. Very nice shade of coral, no? 
4. The horrible dye mix when Turqoise was dumped into the 'dye vessel'.

After step 4, I succumbed to the possibilities of a botched experiment. Whatever gave me the idea that I could tame deep turqoise, which actually looks more like teal, with pale pink? 

After one hour in the colour bath, I took the garment out. Much to my dismay it was this shade of putrid green. Couldn't even bring myself to snap a picture. Redha sajalah. I had to practically force myself to do the final step - rinse and hang to dry. 

......then came a surprise in the morning:

Isn't this somewhat MINT????? 

Hey, it's probably not 2012 mint but at least it's not vomit green!

I have to admit that the imperfection didn't just lie in the shade that I wanted, though. Look closely. See those teal streaks? I'm not gonna go on an ombre spin here because I've ranted enough on the subject in Twitterville. No point when the peeps who read this blog are the same ones on my Tweet list haha. 

Inspiration: In Honor of Design, 9 September 2012:SO chic. God bless you, Anna Liesemeyer. 

With this facelift-ed top, I thee wear.......

30 weeks pregnant.
In mint condition. Heheh.

I LOVE ME DYE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Sekian, terima kasih.

*Dylon cold dye in cans have been discontinued. You may still find some floating around your local craft supply/DIY/hardware retailers, but these have been replaced by their new, more expensive sisters. Rit is not available in Malaysia so Dylon is the only trustworthy range we have access to here (God bless America? haha).