Weddingbee Blog

When I discovered the concept of dyed crinolines I hoped that at least one of my many friends getting married this summer would dye hers! Mrs. Strawberry talked about it, and Mrs. Poppy was even brave enough to do it and wear it under her dress. The concept is so popular, there seems to be an official Knottie bio on the subject. My old roommate happened to be the perfect person to try this out with and so we adventurously purchased a crinoline off of eBay.

It took a few trips to Wal-Mart, but Amber finally discovered that the RIT dye is stocked next to the laundry detergent. I guess that makes sense. She was seeking a raspberry shade and so she bought the Wine colored dye.

First we had to make sure the crinoline fit. There was a small emergency at the beginning when we lost the string to tie it with (it disappeared into the skirt).

My crafty sister saved the day by looping the string back through with a safety pin. I don’t totally understand how this works but she is brilliant like that.

We then followed the instructions on the back of the bottle. We ran hot water in the washer, and did not add salt (the instructions are kind of unclear about this). After the washer was full of hot water we added the entire bottle of dye. Then we let the agitator mix the color around.

The instructions said we shouldn’t put dry fabric in the washer so we put the crinoline in the shower first to get it wet.

It was a monster effort to stuff that huge crinoline into our tiny washer. Poor Amber burned her hands a few times (the water has to be as hot as possible), but I think it was worth it in the end.

We pushed it down as far as it would go, and tried to spread it out around the middle of the washer. I opened the lid every 10 or 15 minutes to rearrange the crinoline so that the dye reached all parts of it. After all of the water had drained out of the washer and it had run on the spin cycle for a few minutes, we opened the lid to find this!

We rinsed it out with warm/hot water until the water ran as clear as possible.

The finished product hung to dry in my shower. I had to do a lot of scrubbing after she left, so if you attempt this, remember that as the crinoline dries it will drip colored water all over the place. I ran the washer 3 or 4 times with bleach (although that was probably overdoing it). I threw some white towels in to make sure that no residue was going to turn my panties pink the next time I washed my whites.

Amber just emailed me her bridals, so I was able to see how the crinoline looks underneath her dress. Doesn’t she look beautiful? She said her photographer absolutely LOVED shooting the colored crinoline.

All bridal photos by MW Photography

I think her sweet little ballet slippers add just the right touch. I’ll be attending Amber’s wedding in August and will be able to see the dress in action at her reception!

Anyone else out there wearing a colored crinoline?