Back in February, I bought a new dress from H&M. I say I bought it. It was actually free as it was only £5 in their sale and I had a £5 voucher. I really like peter pan collars so I liked this dress when I spotted it and it was a small, so perfect. It has little beads/ ‘pearls’ on the collar (not sure you can see it on the photos) and is a 60s-style shift dress. I did wear it once as it came, but I felt a bit too dressed up and it’s a big old expanse of cream!
So I decided to take off the collar (thanks to an idea from a friend on Facebook)….
….and dyed it green! (minus the collar)
I dyed a skirt at the same time and here they are sloshing about in all their newly green glory!
The skirt ended up a better colour, I think, because it was darker before. Also probably has something to do with their respective fabric contents. The stitching didn’t dye, which I was prepared for as the packet said it wouldn’t work on polyester thread. I kinda like it with the highlighted stitching!
Here is the closest photo I could get to their real-ish colour (dress on the left, skirt on the right):
I added some darts to make the dress more fitted and sewed the collar back on and I’m pretty pleased with the result. When I wore it to work, I got lots of unsolicited compliments!
This is the back (with the facing sticking out, grrr!). The darts aren’t perfect, but I couldn’t be bothered to re-do them! It doesn’t look amazing from the back, but for a free dress, I’m not too bothered!
Not a bad refashion for only the cost of the dye! I’ve already worn this more than I did before I dyed it.
sewingmachinations.com 
I love a Peter Pan collar and the color green! Good job!
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Thanks! I considered bright pink instead of green, but I thought green was a safer option! I also love peter pan collars – i kind of want one on all my clothes!
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I really like this dress and the collar is to die for! I am off to do some dying myself!
Zhenya
http://beingzhenya.com
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Thanks! I pretty much bought the dress because of the collar! I think dying this one dress has given me the bug to dye loads of things, so I’m definitely going to be on the lookout for more opportunities! Good luck with yours!
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Thanks! Did you dye in the washer? I am kind of scared of that, because I think I’ll ruin mine 🙂 hehe
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I did do it in the machine, mainly because I didn’t have a big enough bowl/bucket to do it by hand. You just have to wash the stuff you’ve died straight away and then run the machine empty and it’s fine. I did bedding after just in case, but it didn’t get died 🙂
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Cool! I dyed today too! But I used the stove top method! Turned out great! I just need new buttons for the shirt I did 🙂 And I mixed colors too (blue and yellow dye to get green) and it worked! I think I am getting a little obsessed! 🙂
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Brilliant reinvention – I definitely light it loads better that colour! And you look great in it. x
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Thanks. It’s much more wearable this colour! 🙂
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whoaaa… the green is way too cute 😀
etheea.wordpress.com
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Thanks! 🙂
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Amazing!! can’t believe it’s the same dress.
So inspirational, I need to do this with some of my clothes!!
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Thanks! I love it – it was waaaaay too cream/white, but I’m glad I got to keep the collar as it was.
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