updating faded jeans with dye {before and after}

Do you have one pair of jeans you love to wear over and over again? 

My favorite pair ever is this pair of Miss Me Jeans:

Rob loves them like crazy, and so do I. I bought a pair of them on eBay a year or two ago, and wore them for a year, then bought the same pair in a better size on eBay again because I loved them so much. :) {I sold the first pair in my first Mandy's Closet!}.

I've worn them so much they are starting to show all the love I've been giving them. I wish I had taken a picture of me wearing them this week before I dyed them, but here's the before shots I did get:

Still wearable, but the hip to knee sections were yellowing in the fade too, which is what bothered me the most. 

I definitely didn't want to sell them anytime soon, but I wanted them to be a bit more dressy looking since they are trousers and were darker to begin with, so I decided to dye them myself.

I'd tried dyeing pants before and didn't have the luck I'd hoped for, so I did a little more research this time around and tried to follow the instructions more closely with my beloved jeans. :) {here's a tutorial I found helpful!}

On my previous attempt, I'd only used denim blue and it was glowing bright blue {think brand new pair of cowboy Wranglers blue}, so this time I bought two packets, denim blue and black to mix to give it a darker look. Next time, I would try navy blue only like Kate did.

I followed the machine directions, but only used 1/2 of each packet/bottle, along with a cup of salt because they were cotton. I used the smallest, hottest load setting and that black packet sprinkled a little bit of everywhere. I prefer the liquid version! ;) I let the jeans soak for 20 minutes in the hot water and then ran a full wash cycle, then washed them again in warm water with detergent.

Here's how they looked "after" dyeing with 1/2 black and 1/2 denim blue:

It was too dark outside to get a clear pic without a flash... {sorry!}

I liked them, but they ended up a bit more violet than I wanted:

So I decided to use the rest of the 1/2 denim blue and 1/2 salt and do it all again. It was less dye per gallon of water of course, so it didn't come out much more blue, but I liked it better.

before:

after {the final result!}:

They are kind of vintage blue! :D I like them. :)

I'm happy with the way they turned out! Like I said, I wouldn't be against trying the navy RIT color next time, but I didn't want to go overboard or too dark with my favorite pair. I just wanted to bring a little color and life back into them. It ended up being a fun experiment! {good thing too, or I might have seriously cried! ha!} :)

Have you ever dyed your old jeans?

Did you know black dye is just every color mixed together? I had no idea until it spilled on the side of my washing machine... :)