It's Not Easy Being Green

This summer our good friends Paulina and Ross are having a reception to celebrate their marriage this last December. Both Mary and I stood up in beautiful winter wedding and now we get to celebrate the summer reception! Since we've already done the matching dress thing for the ceremony, Paulina took a page from Sex and the City and has decided that the bridesmaids should all dress in brightly colored dresses. We love this idea!

So, after "calling" green (apparently you're never too old to call dibs) I set out to find a summery green dress. I was hoping for something along the lines of these beautiful lily pads which I assumed was called kelly green. More on that later. 

I can't think of anything more summery and bright than a nice green. So how hard could it be to find a dress that color, right? Well, it's a lot harder than you'd think! Why is it that you see a color everywhere until you need it, then it's nowhere to be found. One of life's little mysteries, I guess!

I quickly decided that calling dibs on green was not my best move. Why didn't I go for pink or blue which seem to be more in season this year? But then I went to Target to pick up a few things and casually strolled through the clothing department as I often always do and I found this pretty lady

Maybe I should clarify, by "lady" I mean dress of course. Although I'm sure she's very pretty too. But this dress is great. It's a nice light linen and I love the detail by the shoulder. Here's an up close picture for you.

I'm sure you must be a little confused right now. The dress isn't green. Correction: the dress isn't green yet. Cue the fabric dye.

I've been seeing things about the brand iDye for a while now and have only heard good things. It's washing machine friendly and easy to use. I got a nice kelly green packet on Amazon for about $6. Not to shabby, right?

The process is really simple. Combine the dye packet with 1 cup of salt for 100% natural fabrics and enough hot water to dissolve it all. Then, pour it into the filling washing machine. Soak your fabric in water before putting it in the washer. If you put it in dry, the fabric won't be evenly dyed. Set the washer to run an extra rinse cycle and whala! Green dress.

Now I have to say I was expecting the green to come out a bit darker. But I suppose the color is pretty true to the picture on the front of the packet. While it's very pretty, I was envisioning something a little more rich in color. So I hopped back on Amazon and I have a packet of emerald green coming my way.

I've read that dyeing one color over another isn't a problem as long as you're going darker. Obviously it wouldn't work so well to try and take a dress from emerald to kelly green so I'm happy I made the mistake in the right order! I'll keep you posted on the dress progress as soon as I have access to another washing machine! Oh the joys of apartment living...