how to dye voile curtains ombre

Don’t forget to link up your window crafts on this month’s point of view link party!

We have no curtains on any windows in the basement, not that we HAVE many windows, but still. When this month’s challenge for “windows” came up I want straight to my pinterest board for inspiration. Picking lightly ombred curtains was easy, and just the bit of color this room needed!

The window in the living room is the largest window in the basement and the source of any natural light we get. BUT it was pretty boring and not very pretty. It doesn’t help that we have super low ceilings making it feel even more squished down here.

So I decided on full length curtains hoping it would make the room feel a bit taller!! I didn’t need anything to block light, just something airy and pretty. So I picked some voile curtains. It’s 100 polyester and I knew that it wouldn’t take the rit dye well (you need special sythetic dye- and have to boil the fabric) but I didn’t want the color too strong so I thought I’d give it a go!

I started by soaking the bottom of the panels in hot hot HOT water (I soaked them about 1/3 of the way up)

Then I added salt, and the powder rit dye. (I did purple and blue to get the shade I wanted) I stired until the dye was dissolved then added the bottom few inches of the curtains.

Every 15 mins I lowered the curtains into they dye a few more inches… then a few inches every 10 and then every 5 mins. creating a very faded effect. Then I rinsed them in cold water (top down so as not to get any dye on the top 1/3rd of the curtains. And dried them on the no heat setting of my dryer.

I wanted to hang the curtain rods from the ceiling, that’s why I got these cool round holders, but the air vent goes RIGHT over the center of the curtain rod and it didn’t work out. I attached them about 1/2 an inch down. The curtain panel are just a bit too long and my sewing machine is buried right now so I did a quick fold over and hand stitch so I could enjoy them until I can do a more permanent sewing job.

It was a bright day, and hard to take pictures of windows anyway… so you can hardly tell, but I LOVE the ombre effect. If you want a dark color don’t go with voile to dye, but for the light effect I was looking for it’s PERFECT!

You can see my slightly uneven fold over and stitch at the top. I’ll like it better when I can do it right without the extra bunch of fabric getting in the way. But for now I love walking into the room and seeing them. Just the perfect amount of color.