DIY Mint Jeans - How to Dye White Pants

BySarah
152 Comments
Easy DIY dyed mint jeans!
 
 
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Yes! I am so happy with how this re-fashion turned out. I have been longing for mint jeans (along with the rest of the English speaking-world) all spring. So I decided to do something about it. And that something was not spending $60 on up for the available options. See my tutorial below!

First I bought a pair of white jeans for $6 at Savers. They weren't skinny jeans, just plain old straight leg.
 
How to make any jeans into skinny jeans! So easy!
 
So I quickly fixed that problem with seriously basic sewing. Which I'll explain:
 
 
I bought them because they fit in the waist and that's about all I cared about. To be clear: I did not alter the waist at all. Just the legs from mid-thigh down to the bottom.
 
All I did was turn the white pants inside-out, lay a pair of skinny jeans I had that fit well on top of them. I pinned the white ones right on the line of the inside where I wanted to sew them up. I sewed the straight line along where I had pinned. Then cut the excess fabric off, and they were skinny.
 
 After that was done I used Tulip brand dye in the shade 'Green Vert' to turn them mint green.
 
The dye was $2 after coupon at Hobby Lobby. Just follow the directions on the package... Instead of putting in a sink or bucket like the package told me, I soaked them in my washing machine. No mess! I opted for a lighter mint so I only kept mine in for about 15 mins, but you can go pretty dark if you want to, just by leaving it in longer. And, no, nothing else turned green after that - the washing machine rinsed out on it's own.
 
Cue angels singing.
 
 
 
Here I am, uneasily taking pictures of myself with self-timer so that I can show this to you all. I am truly happy to do it. I just don't know what faces to make? Where should I put my arms? Etc.

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Update: This doesn't seem to work exactly the same for everyone. Some people report having their jeans turn lime green, and some of them have countered that by re-dying with a small amount of teal blue dye. I have not tried this personally but hopefully that helps if yours do not turn out as minty! :) Also, I am happy to answer questions, but if the answer is written in the post above I will not answer it in the comments. Please read the entire post before asking questions.

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152 Comments

  1. LOVELY refashion! You make it sound so easy. Loving all things mint this season as well... just painted my shoes a chalky mint green =)

    xo caroline @ c.w.frosting

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  2. That is amazing. I am seriously shocked about how easy that seemed & how great they turned out. Can't wait to read more of your nifty posts.

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  3. I don't have a Hobby Lobby near me and I was checking out Fabric Dyes online. I found the Tulip brand, but I can't seem to find the "green vert" color. I did find a turquoise and some shades of green, but I want mine just like yours! Can you find a link for the color you used? Thanks so much!!This is the turquoise I found and it's pretty--> http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&q=Tulip+Fabric+Dye&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9397751230233488658&sa=X&ei=wnaTT_CrBarv6AH0s8S2BA&ved=0CHEQwBUwAA

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    1. Ok I found one at Hobby Lobby online but it is out of stock. I can't seem to find it anywhere else! Maybe you can call the Orem, UT Hobby Lobby and have them ship it to you?! I know they have it, or at least they did last week :)

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  4. Thanks to your post, I did the exact same thing today with the same dye and color and they turned lime green!! I did it in a bucket and boiled my water first, but only left it in the water for literally like 4 minutes because I realized the color was pretty dark! I want to just go back to the thrift store and try this thing again, but I want to do it right this time! What are some good tips to get it that perfect light mint color?!

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    1. Hey, I'm not sure, I honestly just did what the package said and they did what they did! But, if they are too green maybe you could try doing a really light blue to make it a cooler color? That's what I would try doing. I am not positive how it would turn out though, that's just an idea! The beauty of this project is that you can re-dye until you get the color you want!

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    2. mine did the same thing as carrie mentioned above. they are like paste neon green.. maybe i will try a small touch of a teal color and that will hopefully help!

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    3. Mine turned super lime green as well. Going back to Hobby Lobby to get the teal and see if it will fix it.

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    4. To those having "color variations" it may be the fabric content. For instance, 100% cotton will take dye MUCH more readily than blends will (so many jeans these days have varying amounts of spandex!!). I remember as a kid trying to tie dye my dad's old t-shirts (50/50 blend) and the colors barely took. It was a muddy looking mess. As an adult, I wanted to die a bra deep purple and barely got it to the lavender level!

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  5. heyy! love this i bought all the stuff but I was just wondering, how did you do it in the wash? just throw them in and turn it on regular? or...? thanks for the help and the great idea!!! :)

    Reply

    1. No, I did not turn it on a cycle. I just followed the directions on the package but I filled the washer up with water and poured the dye and salt into that instead of using a pot or the sink! Have fun :)

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  8. This is awesome!! I can't wait to give it a try!! Thank you so much for the tutorial!!

    xo Morgan
    morgancharleighsmith.blogspot.com

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  9. I'm not quite sure how to go about this! The green bottle at hobby lobby looks too dark....sour apple looks more minty...and how did you do it in the washer machine? All the bottles say to put it on the fabric....help!!

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    1. Whitney- The name of the dye i used is "green vert" and it looked a darker than my jeans on the package but it will only get to that dark color if you leave it in for the full amount of time! Since I did only 15 minutes it turned out light like I wanted them to. The dye package I used was a powder and directed me to pour it into hot water with a 1/4 cup salt. I decided that instead of using a pot or a sink just to use the washing machine! Good luck finding the right kind and let me know if I can answer any more questions. Feel free to e-mail me at sarah.prettyprovidence@gmail.com :)

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    2. this works so well!! i did mine last night. they turned a scary lime green shade while in the dye bath, but once they were washed and dried, they look exactly like yours!! thanks, i'm very happy with the results!

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    4. Glad you put this! I'm doing mine as we speak and they're quite lime, just put th in the wash. Thanks for the great idea Sarah!

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  12. I searched for Tulip Dye in Green Vert, but it's not listed on their website. Is it just the regular Green color (vert means green in French).

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  19. these jeans look fabulous! Whenever I dye, everything comes out looking tie-dyish. yours look fantastic! Great color

    Reply