Adventures with dyeing: orange playsuit

Mother Hand taught me about machine dyeing clothes, a long, long time ago. She used to dye lots of things when she was younger. I forgot about this for a long time but, in the covid era, my memory came back. I am a lover of strong, saturated colour. I think fashion has preferred muted tones and soft beiges for a while. But I have started to see this as a blank canvas. 

The playsuit has become the garment of my 40s. I live in them during the holidays and I am constantly on the look out for new ones. I made over and dyed a couple of playsuits back in 2022: both from Tesco; one a pale green Mrs Hinch jumpsuit that I cut the legs off and dyed turquoise, another a beige linen creation with a poorly scaled belt that I cut up and fashioned into something to stop the straps from slipping down, then dyed bright pink. Both still going strong.

Fanciest hotel bathroom ever. Any excuse to share this picture again, it's one of my faves. 

So, anyway, when Sea Salt brought out the Salt Air linen playsuit with a button over the shoulder I had to have it (I've linked it but if the link has gone dead it's because I bought it in 2024). It came in two colours that I wouldn't have chosen, so I chose the sand colour. I tried it on when it arrived and Mr Z, who is helpfully blunt, said it looked like I was wearing a flour sack. The colour does not work for me. I'm sure it would work for others. 

This is the back. I should make a point of taking pictures of garments properly before I mess with them, but I still remember when I went to machine dye a red dress from Boden, laid it over the counter for the before shot, wondered what the smell was, realised I had laid it over the toaster that was making my breakfast and burnt the back out. So gutted. Dyed it anyway because the dye was already in the machine; kept it for about 3 years before I finally had to admit it was not salvageable. I keep telling you - borderline hoarder. 

Anyway, I went with orange for this playsuit and it took the dye so well. Linen always does but I was very pleased. I keep meaning to change the buttons for something a bit jazzier but there's no need, really. Here I am playing in it in fountains in Skanderberg Square last summer. It is a playsuit, after all. 

If you are feeling the need to machine dye something and you've somehow stumbled across this post looking for comfort - you do definitely need to follow the instructions on the tub; yes, you need to run that many cycles; yes, you absolutely must weigh your fabric in advance (ask me how I know); no, it won't ruin your machine - I did once end up with the seals dyed a bit navy but they were colourfast and stayed navy until the machine broke, many years later when a bearing went; yes, it will be colour fast afterwards. If the thread used for stitching is nylon it will stay white but it's no biggie - the stitching on the pink one, above, remained white but you'd have to get very close to me to notice. I use the Dylon tubs and they really could not make it any easier. I'd like to level up and start colour mixing so I get custom colours, really, but I am also trying not to buy more clothes until the old ones wear out. 

Also I don't want to say I am a trendsetter but I have just noticed Sea Salt have the long version of this in a strong orange this summer. Just saying.