Dyeing something dark denim in the washing machine

[HiawathaDidntBotherTooMuch]

Has anyone done this, and if so (i) which dye did you use, and (ii) did any dye remain in the washing machine?

I have a fab fitting pair of jeans that need restoring to dark denim colour, as they are so faded. I am nervous though of dyeing them in the machine as my machine is a 2yo Miele and I treasure it

Any experiences or advice please?

Hiawatha, I have dyed loads of baby clothes and towels and things. I used to use the washing machine Dylon dyes until I discovered the Dylon hand wash ones. They cost about £3 and are miles better.

The instructions say leave them for 45 minutes but I tended to leave things in overnight for a really intense colour. For the things I did a bit of uneven colouration was quite good, if you want good even cover, stir it loads.

Thanks for your reply. I would rather spare my washing machine, so hand dyeing would be far more preferable if it works! I would definitely have to stir it a lot though wouldn't I, so its probably not a leave it overnight job.

I use the Dylon machine stuff loads. I'd recommend using 3 packs at the same time to get a really intense colour on already dark clothes and then run an empty hot wash twice through to really clear out the dregs.

I've done Dylon machine dying a few times and got really good results, followed instructions to get the machine clean again with no problems.

Although I have wondered how much a hot wash costs per wash and therefore how much the colour change will have actually cost me alltogether, also given that a newly dyed item I expect would run a bit the first few washes so I wash separately for a while.

Hand dying I've stirred and stirred and left and left and still had very patchy, uneven results.

I do the dylon machine dye too (to send things back to black), and its no issue for the machine. I just do dark washes for the first few loads in case of any residual

Yup, dylon machine stuff. Don't forget you need to add salt.

Like others I just follow the instructions and stick to darks for a couple of washes after. I much prefer the machine dye to the handwash stuff. I found the handwash stuff runs for ever. Maybe I did it wrong.

I've used the machine Dylon ones, a black one which didn't need salt adding and a navy one which did. Really good results with both (one pair of jeans for each) and machine was fine after an empty cycle and clean around the seal.

I've used Dylon machine dye loads of times - including on a bath mat that had bleach marks on it and I had a lovely pair of purple jeans in my early twenties after the stone washed denim look went out of fashion. It's good, clean fun!

I've used Dylon in the machine loads. Do a darkish wash afterwards, that's all. Don't have a fancy machine though . Dylon actually do a denim one or a navy one.

Oh, it did dye the seal a little bit, but I think that was more because there was gunky limescale stuff on it

I like purple combined with navy gets a deep dark blue.

God. Haven't done any dyeing for ages. I used to do it all the time. I need to dye all my towels to match!

I turned my white wedding present table cloth Christmas green, without turning any other washing green.

Really white table cloth with ivy woven into the fabric. Sadly it got curry on it. However, since DDs came along it's far more practical deep green.

I'm getting nervous about damaging my beautiful Miele washing machine! We have a love affair, going on, me and the Miele. But my jeans would seriously benefit from a proper dye job. Decisions, decisions ...

another dylon machine user here...manky white cotton duvets to lovely vibrant purple and another to a deep navy

It will not damage your machine....I usually wash the thing to be dyed, then put in the salt and the dye, and then follow the instructions.

I do an extra wash also just to make sure there's no loose dye, and then just in case the next load is dog blankets/dark towels but I have NEVER had an issue with lingering dye.