DYLON Hand Dye, Fabric Dye Sachet for Clothes, Soft Furnishings and Projects, 50 g - Navy Blue

When the summer arrived and my blue shorts came out of the draw it was obvious that they had become faded over time and needed replacing. There didn’t seem to be any similar quality alternatives available (on line at the time or so it seemed) so I thought that perhaps they could be dyed instead. The shorts themselves were cotton based with white and blue inside banding and white pockets within . I opted to dye them dark blue to restore them to the original colour. Since I was familiar with the name DYLON it was the obvious choice and for six quid , new shorts it was a no brainer. The instructions are on the packet but essentially and ideally what you need is a large plastic storage box type receptacle, although a washing up bowl or your kitchen sink will do, 250 grams of ordinary table/cooking salt , rubber gloves and possibly if you don’t wear specs some form of eye protection.On dyeing day I prepared the plastic box filled it with the prescribed amount of warm water and stirred in the salt and colour dye as per instructions using a plastic kitchen utensil ( the one you use for turning eggs over). You have to pre soak the garment in plain water prior to immersing it in the mixture . Once immersed it is important to regularly stir the pot to make sure that there are no are pockets in the material and that all material is submerged. I found that placing one of those plastic draining board grids on top of the clothing helped to keep it down.After following all this procedure I eventually lifted out the shorts , rinsed them as instructed and then hung them up to dry. I now have new shorts and the good news is that because it doesn’t dye synthetic material, the waste band and pockets remained white as before.I was then left with a storage box full of dark blue water and decided to chance dyeing a pair of similar style beige trousers and see what happened . This left over liquid managed to turn them into a reasonable mid blue colour although the beige buttons and nylon stitching are a bit of a giveaway. However they have now been given a perfect undercoat and would probably go all the way to dark blue next time with a fresh brew.Disposing of the left over liquid is down to your own conscience, but the good news is that the storage box and the egg slice were unscathed.In conclusion you cannot dye every material or expect dramatic colour change or end up with the colour you expect.

works great and easy to use

Love using this dye, colours do differ depending on fabric so be careful!

Just made cloth one shade darker, also wasn't even everywhere. Followed instructions fully but results are so so. Maybe try the machine dye of same brand, that's much better than this.

Bought some new rubber gloves and with the addition of table salt as directed found thishand dye very easy to use.I dyed a t shirt and a cotton seat cover and both came out very successfully..Would recommend.

I’ve used Dylon Machine pods with great success in the past. This is the first time I’ve used Dylon hand dye. I used the hand dye because I only had one small item, light in weight and in colour, so it seemed a waste to get a machine pod for such a small item. It was a fail, despite following the instructions exactly.I had tried to dye an XS shirt that was 100% Linen and weighed less than 200g. It was a really evenly light mauve colour originally. So I thought Brown would be a sensible choice to colour it.It was easy enough to do, the instructions are clear. The colour is exactly as shown and really intense, which I am happy with. I really like the colour It’s exactly the colour I had hoped that it would be and the only reason I gave one star, for the colour and for the ease of dying.But ultimately the result came out so patchy and my shirt is currently looking like a tie dye 50 shades of brown. It looks like it’s got faded sweat stains all over it. I’ve tried to capture in a photo, but you can’t quite see the many different shades of brown in the light. It also has black spots all over the place too, despite dissolving the dye powder first in warm water. I wasn’t expecting an amazing result, but what I have got is disappointing. Especially give the item is 100% linen.I do like that the buttons and inside branding tag and machine wash logo stayed pure white.I will now need to buy another packet and dye the shirt again, which is disappointing because I was using the hand dye because I was trying to avoid being excessive for such a small job. I wanted to avoid waste. I would recommend that if you are going to try these sachets, buy two incase anything goes wrong. But, I think for me, I’ll probably stick to the machine pods and wouldn’t buy this again nor would I recommend this product.

1st usually I don't let instructions get in the way of forging ahead with a plan, however - this I read cos' I like the dress I was dying - and it worked, easy peesy - not just dress but also two tops with spot on results. It feels like I have 3 new items to wear and the colour is perfect and excellent value for money :-)