DIY ombre lace curtains

I've had these plain lace curtains from IKEA for years now....and although they are great for a light window dressing, I was beginning to tire of them......so I decided: I have nothing to loose...lets go OMBRE!!!

I've seen ombre curtains all over pinterest and checked out a few tutorials, but in the end I did it in my own way....

.....here's what I did:

You will need:

Curtains

 bucket of warm water (6 litres) 

Dye

Salt

I chose to use 3 colours dye. I will tell you why in a minute...

Go with the instructions on the packet, but don't wet your curtains first, as you only want the colour on the bottom half of the curtains....

 

First I mixed the china blue with the bahama blue, as I wanted a light aqua blue result...

...I mixed them 50/50, and only used half the packet of each one...

I followed the instructions of the Dylan dye, and mixed the powders into 500ml of hot water.

I filled my bucket with 6 litres of warm water and mixed in 250g of Dylan salts....

I prepared my curtains by folding them together length wise, so that I could be sure the dye would start at the same length of each curtain, and hung them up on my washing line in the garden....

I mixed the hot dye/water-mix with the warm salted water in  the bucket, placed it below the curtains and dipped the bottom of the curtains in....

 

I dipped them in, then pulled them out a little, to ensure a nice graduation from white to coloured ....

....then I left the curtains to soak in the dye-mix for 40 minutes.....

After 40 minutes I pulled them out a little further, then left them for another 40 minutes....

....gravity will help, as the dye-water will run down the curtains...

 

Next, I mixed the remaining powders of my two blue dyes with a little bit of black (about 1/3 of the pack) into another jug of hot water......I also added another 250 grams of salt to some more warm water......

 

 I lifted the curtains out of my bucket, before adding my new dye mix and topping up with more salty warm water....gave it a stir, then popped the curtains back into the bucket at a level below the start of the blue....

 

 Again: if you dip them in a little further , then pull them back out a little, gravity will help create a gradual ombre effect.......

After another 40 minutes I added the rest of my black dye powder to some hot water. I lifted the curtains out again and added this mix into my bucket, then  left the very ends of the curtains in for another 40 minutes

Then I took the curtains out of the bucket....disposed of the dye...and let the excess dye  drip off the ends of the curtains....

...After about half an hour, I spread the curtains out on my washing line and let them dry fully....

 

I know you are supposed to rinse your curtains after, but I didn't, as I wanted the colours to be quite vibrant.....if you find the colours are too vibrant for your liking...give them a rinse....and they will fade to a subtler colour....

 

I love the end result...our front room is at the back of our house (I know: how ironic ?!!!) , so quite dark, and this was a fun way to add some colour without loosing any light coming through the window....

.....and I think it makes my cheap Ikea lace curtains more modern.

It really was so easy to do, I've got a feeling I might be going ombre in the bedroom as well....

...although my husband is not convinced....

What do you think....Ombre or plain white?

How would you dress a window in a dark room?

Thanks for popping by...

xxx

June