Recommendations for Dying Old Jeans Darker?

[sarchan]

So I have several pairs of old jeans that I don't wear because they don't fit well and I don't like the wash.  I am contemplating revamping them into other articles of clothing (which would solve the problem of them not fitting well), but I want I nice dark wash.  Does anyone have experience dying jeans dark?  What dye did you use/were the results pleasing?  Quips, qualms, etc.   Thanks!

[Thesingingllamas]

I dyed some denim with good results using RIT, Dylon would probably also work, but I've never tried it.

[batgirl]

I did this recently with some RIT navy. The first time I used powder and they were a bit splodgy but I did it again with liquid. They definitely looked overdyed, and more "blue" than true dark denim, but I like the result, and it didn't dye the thread, which was nice.

[ma2maya]

Your best bet would be to a fiber reactive dye, assuming that your jeans are cotton (or primarily cotton). The only issue you will run into, as a previous poster mentioned is that you will have an overdyed look. It is hard to get a true denim dye with anything axcept fo rmaybe getting a hold of some indigo and dyeing with that.

Fyi- fiber reactive dyes as wel as indigo are available at places like Prochemical.com and dharma Trading company, among other places.

Kathy

[sarchan]

thanks for the help.  in this case i think i'd be okay with an overdyed look.  i'm a big fan of dark washes, so i prolly try the rit!

[ma2maya]

 I would recomend not using RIT. Since your jeans, I am assuming, are cotton denim your best bet would be to go to your locl craft store and pick up some Dylon cold water dye. It is a fiber reactive dye formulated to be fade resistant and wash fast on natural fibers.

RIT is just a headache waiting to happen.

 
Kathy