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Motherhood, Sewing, Family

DIY: perfect mint color jeans

~ DIY DREAM HOUSE

DIY mint jeans

I think I am quoting many girls when I say, “I’ve been looking for mint jeans for spring!”  I am very specific and picky about the color of mint I want, not too blue, not too green, not too dark, or not too light, more blue with a tint of green. I finally thought I found the color I was looking for(within my price range) and ordered two pairs of mint pants just to make sure I got the right color, but unfortunately one was a tad darker than I wanted(and too big), and the other one was too green for me.  I’ve learned that in the pictures(in stores and in other blogs), the color always shows up more blue than it actually is.

So I’ve been on the hunt for mint jeans ever since and thought about dyeing my white jeans mint, but I’ve never dyed anything before so I was hesitant to try.  Then I came across this, this, and this tutorial on dyeing your own mint jeans and after seeing others do it, I had the courage to try it.  I decided to follow along the second tutorial since I liked the color her jeans turned out, but from the comments from the post, many people said they tried it and it turned out lime green(hers turned out super cute though:).  So I decided to mix two colors together, green vert and aqua, 1/2 package each.  And it was a FAIL.  It turned out dark green, even though I soaked it for about 2 minutes.  I was so disappointed!  But I was determined to make the perfect mint color jeans, so I took the pants out, ran it in hot water, then soaked it in bleached water, then soaked it in straight up bleach, and the dark green came off and I was left with this light lime green color.

Then I ran a cycle in the washer with hot water + bleach and it got a little lighter.

The color wasn’t bad, but I already own yellow/lime green pants, so I made the dye again but this time using the rest of the package of aqua and about 1/2 tsp. of green vert.
I soaked the lime green pants in it along with a white top I had.  After seeing the color of the white top, I was satisfied with the color so after I took out the lime green pants and the white top, I put in a pair of white jeans.  It looked too blue so I added 1/2 tsp. more of green vert and I ended up with a perfect mint color jeans the second time around!  Not too blue, not too green, not too light, not too dark. 
The jeans on the left is the one I dyed the first try(the lime green ones), and the right one is the one I dyed the second try.  I wish I had gotten it right the first time, now I need to go shopping for some white jeans! 
Mint jeans are so versatile, here are some outfits I put together.
c/o: bird print top, hot pink blazer, peterpan collar, denim shirt, blue flared coat
(enter code: sarah20 for a 20% off from sheinside)
I also like these styles I found online,
1, 2, 3
What you’ll need:

-a pair of white jeans/pants
-1 pkg. of aqua dye and 1 pkg. of green vert dye
-a clean bucket
-1/4 c. salt
-1 gallon of steamy hot water
Directions:

1. Pour 1 gallon of steamy hot water into the bucket.  Pour 1/4 c. salt, 1/2 pkg. of aqua dye, 1/2-1 tsp. green vert dye.  
2. Put the white jeans into the bucket.  Make sure the jeans submerges into the dye water completely.  Mix continuously while checking the color.  Pour more aqua dye or the green vert dye to make it the color you’d like(make sure the dye powder doesn’t touch the clothes directly).  If it’s too dark, then add more water.  
3. Leave it for approximately 45 minutes.  (little or more depending on the color you want)
4. Put the clothes into the washer and run a cycle in cold water.  
5. Let it air dry.
Estimated time: 2 hours
Budget: Low (mine was only $5 since I already had white jeans)
Skill level: Beginner
p.s.  my next dye project? a mint jacket!  I tried to dye it with the dye water that was left overnight from the mint jeans but it only turned it to a very light blue(go figure, it wasn’t hot and the dye probably absorbed into the mint jeans already?)  so I’ll be dyeing it again to make it into a perfect mint jacket. 😉

Comments

  4. Jennifer Urias says

    THANK YOU for this tutorial I have been looking for a tutorial on how to do this exact same thing and have had no luck and no luck finding any in the store. I can not wait to try this. I have also been looking for the perfect pair of yellow jeans but have had no luck at all finding the perfect pair. Hope mine turn out as cute as yours!

  9. Gen says

    Perfect Mint indeed! Great job! Must try. Thanks for sharing at Cabin Fevered Gem's Make it Great Monday. Cheers,

  10. Rachel says

    Those jeans are perfection. I recently became obsessed with find the perfect pair of mint jeans. I am going to the thrift store to look for some white jeans and then I am going to try this. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

  11. Rachel says

    I forgot to add to my previous comment. I have an extra pair of white pants that I may turn into skinnies. I will try this on them first. If it works, do you think I can expect the same color on the white jeans? Thanks.

  13. Sarah says

    I believe so. I put my blazer and a sweater in the same dye and it dyed it into a same exact color, so it should be the same. Good luck!

  14. Sarah says

    You are so welcome, thank you for your comment! And it was my first time dyeing but I think I'll be doing it a ton now, I love it! And you should dye yellow jeans too! Good luck!

  16. southernscraps says

    I have never tried dying clothes before, but you give me inspiration to do it. Now to find something to dye… Love the outfits you put together, especially the pink and mint.

  18. Just Jaime says

    So cute! I dyed some pants a reddish pink and my sister just dyed some shoes! Both were really fun to try. Now I'm a big fan of dyeing stuff!

  24. April says

    Wow! Oh my goodness, those are SO SO SO CUTE! I think I love the ones on the left that are slightly more green better! I have definitely said that quote about wanting mint jeans for this year! I have looked everywhere for them but they're always sold out or out of my price range! I would love to try this dye idea, but then I'd have to buy white jeans somewhere! I want a pair of white jeans, too! I need to find a deal! I just LOVE all the outfits you put together with your mint jeans. You are so cute and stylish!

  27. Sarah says

    You are so sweet, thank you for your kind comment! And I now need white jeans too, I used them all to make the mint ones! 😀

  28. Sarah says

    Thank you for your sweet comment. Believe it or not, I wasn't always slim, but having two kids just a year apart will make anyone slim. 🙂

  34. Sarah says

    That color was worth the hard work and wait! I love them! Thanks for sharing at Dwell on Friday! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂

  35. Sylvie says

    You are BRILLIANT! I've been wanting some pants that color, and I have dye and light colored ones! Hello! I'm on it! Thanks for sharing this! 🙂

  36. Haylee says

    Ahhh these are amazing. YOU are amazing. I'm actually so mad at myself right now because I just ordered mint jeans yesterday when I totally could have made them myself. Boo. Thanks for the great tutorial though. I'm tempted to still do this anyways and maybe just have two pairs of mint jeans. You can never have enough mint right?

  39. Sarah says

    Agreed! I have two pairs of mint jeans due to messing up the first one but I've been wearing both of them. 🙂

  48. Sarah says

    Yes it is, I messed up on the first one(as you can see by the pictures I posted), so I grabbed another pair of white jeans and the second time worked! I didn't even think to take a picture of the before of this on

  51. Natural-Nesters says

    I sooooo want to try this! I just need to find some white jeans that I can play with and get it right!! You did an awesome job! I am so jealous of the new pants you have 🙂

    Thanks so much to linking this up to our Naturally-Nifty Linky Party last week! I just wanted to let you know that we featured this post of yours on our party today! Stop by and check it out, and link up this week while you are there! Also remember to pick up a featured button to brag with!

    By the way, we pin all of our features to our Pinterest, so check that out too!

    http://natural-nester.blogspot.com/2012/05/naturally-nifty-party-15.html

  52. Sarah says

    I love this so much it's being featured this Friday at Dwell on Joy! Thanks so much for sharing, and have a great weekend!

  53. VB says

    Sarah, love love love your blog and your awesome DIYs. Went out to get the green vert but couldnt find any here in NoCal either in Joanns or Michaels. Where did you buy yours?

  56. Sarah says

    I just checked it out and left you a comment! It looks so great on you! Thanks for letting me know of your project!

  57. Treva says

    Your pants look great. If you want to take the "failed" green pants back to their original white, RIT makes a color remover packet that you might try. I used it to change a light blue linen duvet cover to white and it worked in seconds. It runs about $2 and would be worth trying to save a pair of jeans for. Love your blog.

  60. SupaFlowaPowa says

    Oh my goodness – absolutely LOVE!!!! I want to try this – where did you get your dye from? Man, now I'm regretting throwing away all those old white capri slacks and jeans I had that were too see-through for my own good. Do you think it'd work on slacks? You're amazing!

  61. SupaFlowaPowa says

    Oh my goodness – absolutely LOVE!!!! I want to try this – where did you get your dye from? Man, now I'm regretting throwing away all those old white capri slacks and jeans I had that were too see-through for my own good. Do you think it'd work on slacks? You're amazing!

  64. Fab says

    Did you used the same color dye for both jeans? or why did they came different? Love both 🙂 thanks for sharing

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