How To Dye Cushions – A Bench Cushion Makeover

I have this amazing friend Christine who I talk about all the time on here. She is one of my best friends I have made here in NC while being a marine wife & I’m so thankful for our friendship. We both have this creative soul that has a constant need to create & make things beautiful. While she is making jewelry I am always busy decorating & blogging about it. Most of the time I am doing projects at my own house, but of course I don’t stop there & I’m always needing to DIY at other people’s houses as well. Thankfully Christine always comes up with projects for me to do & this lovely bench was one of them.  It was a super quick & easy project, but I thought I would share how to dye cushions just in case you have any stained seat cushions, slipcovers, or any other fabric lying around your house.

 Christine has a tiny baby & a 3 year old in her house so of course messes are inevitable. Well, this bench got pretty beat up & the white cover was ruined by markers, cheetos, & dirty hand prints so our solution was to dye the fabric to give it a whole new look & make it a little more kid friendly.

You can see some of the stains in the above photo & I was a little worried at how well the dye would cover the slip cover, but it worked so well! To dye the cushion I simply followed the directions on the Rit dye packaging that I found at my local craft store, Michaels. I took the slipcover off of the cushion & made sure it was as clean as I could get it. I chose to dye the cushion cover in the bathtub for a few reasons. One was so I could watch the color develop right in front of me & make sure all the stains were being covered. This also allowed me to leave the cushion in the dye right up until the exact moment it was the perfect color that we wanted, where as the washer is a set time. You can choose either way to fit your needs. I filled the bathtub with hot water {not even half full, just enough to completely soak the slipcover in water} I then dumped two bottles of dye into the bathtub & placed the slipcover in the tub. This is the only step that I did different, it says to put the cloth in wet, but I put it in while it was dry & I loved how it came out, so I don’t know what the difference would have been if it had been wet. I stirred the cushion cover in the hot tub water for about an hour while it soaked in the dye. I put the slipcover in a plastic tub & brought it right to the washer & washed it like a normal load of laundry. Since it was a slipcover, I let it air dry so it wouldn’t shrink. After it dried, she had a whole new cushion with a brand new look for less than $10!

The process is seriously so easy that I want to walk around my house & dye everything in sight. If you have never dyed anything before, do not be intimidated. It’s actually the easiest DIY ever. Dyeing fabric is awesome as well, because you can keep dyeing the fabric until you reach the final product that you want.

I love this color gray as well & think it’s really kid friendly as far as hiding those stains longer. Christine was super happy with the bench & that’s a plus as well. I actually painted a piece of furniture in her home last week as well which will be on the blog soon. What do you think of the bench makeover? Do you like the color we chose? Let me know in the comments below, find me on Facebook, & chat with me on Instagram. xx

 

Ps. Christine is having a flash sale on her Instagram today starting at 11am. Head on over & check out her lovely jewelry for yourself!

 

How to start an Etsy shop {here}