DIY Ombre dyed duvet Part 1

As you may well know, my obsession with finishing the girls room as become over the top. They are moving into their "big girl" beds this weekend! Either I am crazy, or just impatient. They arent climbing out, they arent unhappy... I just think they would look cute in big beds! Not to mention we bought them these beautiful 4 poster beds off Craigslist (all cheapos say "here!") when they were only 6 months old. So of course I have been DYING to put them together.

I have spent the last month looking for the perfect duvet cover/blanket/quilt/comforter. Seriously there was nothing that stood out in any category. So whats a DIY inclined girl to do? Make one (or two) of course!

I purchased two white cotton duvet covers from Ikea for $14.99 each. I figured at that price I could take a chance on my (crazy) idea to ombre dye them. Now I will be honest, I spent way too much money on this but it is totally my fault. Instead of thinking things through, I like to wing it. In doing so I ended up having to buy way more dye ($2.99 each) than I should have if I just gave it some thought. I am going to share with you my mistakes and explain to you the right way!

Mistake #1: I should have dyed it all in one tub. I watered down the dye too much. As you can see in the first picture the water is pretty transparent. So if you are dying two of these, use one tub with the amount of water shown. And if you are dying one, use half the water you see pictured.

Mistake #2: This caused me to go buy more dye. I originally used two Dylon packets per tub, and it did an okay job but the color just wasn't intense at all. There was an ombre line but it wasn't what I wanted. If you want a good intense color and a strong ombre then I would use 4 for one duvet. I ended up going back to Hobby Lobby and buying two more (that's all they had left) then combining them into one tub and dying the bottom 2/3 again (that's why you only see two colors on the final one). I would have continued to dye the bottom third but my girls were cranky and I was already at my parents 8 hours working on this.

The right way:
1. Wash your duvet. Don't use any fabric softener. Leave damp.
2. Fill you tub with water to about 5 inches for one duvet.
3. Following the direction on your dye packet, add the salt and the dye mixture it asked you to create.
4. Stir it well!
5. Wear gloves (seriously I still have pink hands) and dunk you fabric all the way, keeping track of the TOP of the duvet (the side without buttons).
6. Swish it around for a few minutes until it is light pink (or other chosen color). The lighter the top the more noticeable ombre you will get. This can happen fast so watch out.
7. Pull your material out evenly and let it hang or sit on the grass.
8. Leave the next part in about 15 min or until you like the color.
9. Pull it out some more (if dying an ombre in thirds, this will be the last shade) leave it in until you like the color, or about 30 min if final color.
10. If you are going for one more, pull it out again after about 15 and leave in another 30 min.
11. Carefully wring your fabric out and transfer it to your washer and rinse on cold.
12. Wash on warm and tumble dry!

I plan on dying the bottom third again soon... when I get up the nerve. But for now I am pleased with the outcome! Let me know if you give this a try. I would love to see how yours turns out!!!