I dyed in my kitchen yesterday.

[Big Frank]

On Christmas day I wore my camo fleece pants for the first time. I decided I didn't like the color, so yesterday I dyed them. They're more than 35% synthetic (45%) so I used Rit DyeMore for Synthetics instead of All-Purpose Dye. Because of the synthetic content I had to dye them on the stove at near boiling temperature. Rather than mixing 2 or 3 colors to get OD Green or Olive Drab, etc., I used 2 bottles of Peacock Green. One green and one graphite may have been okay, but they turned out dark enough anyway. They were the color of the pair in the first 2 pics, and the base colors were dingy tan and gray. I thought about making them blue camo but decided green would be better. I would rather have had the U of M pants since the U of M Flint campus is less than 2 1/2 miles away. But they were out of my size and I got Michigan State instead. The embroidery fluoresces under UV light. The OHT logo is bright white, the Spartan is gold, and the trim around the Colosseum brand is red.

OHT, Operation Hat Trick generates awareness and support for the recovery of wounded service members and veterans through the sale of OHT branded merchandise and products, proceeds of which are donated to selected organizations that fulfill the OHT mission. OHT is dedicated to American service members as they recover from the visible and invisible wounds of war. We help them move past the traumas of battle so they can focus on their lives and families at home.

https://operationhattrick.org/index.php

[Big Frank]

I used about 3 gallons of water in my 4(?) gallon stock pot. I have 2 stainless steel spoons, one solid and one slotted to stir everything "constantly, off and on" with. I kept burning my fingers because the water was so deep and the spoons weren't long enough. The fingertip with a fresh cut in nit quit hurting today, but dipping it in boiling water was especially painful. I figured there was enough dye left in the water after dying my pants an hour to dye some T-shirts. I tied a teal color shirt in a knot and did the same thing with a brown one. Just one big overhand knot in the middle of each one. The teal shirt came out nice IMO. If the brown shirt wasn't already dirty and stained it would look better.

[Big Frank]

I also dyed 2 white T-shirts with graphics on them. The Phantom Fireworks shirt is so old and worn thin it should have been tossed in the rag bag years ago, but it's still in one piece. One day I was at Honeybaked Ham, maybe on Veteran's Day, and one of the ladies said thank you for your service. When I got home and took my coat off I realized I was wearing the Viktos shirt that says You're Welcome. I didn't plan on wearing it that day, it just came up in the rotation of dozens of shirts. If I knew that I was wearing it at the store, I would have have opened my coat after she said thank you and let my T-shirt do the talking.

[Big Frank]

I took the pants out of the pot and drained most of the dye out and soaked them in the bathtub in warm water. Then I dyed all 4 shirts at the same time. The white shirts came out different shades of green, and one is closer to the color of the teal shirt than the other white one. After I drained the dye out of them I threw them in the bathtub and rinsed everything in warm water, then cool, and finally cold water. Since the pants are 55% cotton I use Rit ColorStay Dye Fixative to lock in the color. I never used it or the synthetic dye before. I was supposed to put my pants in the dye fixative right after dying them, without rinsing them. But since I needed to use the same stock pot on the stove, and wanted to dye the T-shirts first, I did it the way I did. The pants aren't quite as dark as they possibly could be. After I took the pants out of the fixative solution I put the T-shirts in for 20 minutes. Then I ran everything though a wash cycle with cold water and no detergent in the washing machine, leaving the 2 knotted T-shirts knotted up until the cycle was over. Then I washed everything with warm water and detergent, then warm water with no detergent to rinse them out more so I won't itch when I wear them.

[Big Frank]

I forgot to post this pic of the OHT hangtag.

[Sponsor]

[Big Frank]

When I was dying that stuff, I splashed dye on my FAFO T-shirt and tossed it in the wash with everything else when I was done. It was already a similar shade of green and I can't see where the dye was. There are other spots of dirt or grease that make a green spot on a green shirt less noticeable.

The Viktos, You're Welcome shirt must have shrunk quite a lot in the boiling water. I wore it yesterday and it was too tight. I already had the front of the neck cut open and felt like it was going to strangle me. I had to take it off right away and slit the neck hole down even farther. Now with a 3" slit in the front I can wear it and not feel like I'm choking to death.