I wondered if anyone has any experience of dying towels? I was recently given some towels by a friend that are brand new, but they didn't want them because they're a rather odd, and quite dark, shade of green that didn't match anything in their bathroom. It doesn't match my bathroom either and I was thinking I might try to dye them, but I wasn't sure what to use (any specific products anyone has had success with would be great!) or how well the colour would stay on the towels. If it's likely to be more hassle than it's worth I'll keep them and find some use for them anyway, but I thought dying them might be an option.
I wouldn't dye towels for they are too big and too absorbent type of material for dying...I dyed white socks and it was not an easy thing to do and it uses up too much water too. I'd rather just add something by sewing to let it match my home. I had the hardest time just with socks so you'd not have an easy time with towels. It's up to you what you do and I can only tell you what I experienced. Good luck in what you decide.
It sounds like a job that is more trouble than it is worth. Are they bath towels, which are heavy when wet and may not take the color or the color may wash out as the the towels are put in the laundry.
I agree that the towel is a big item for dyeing. Besides, when the color is dark and drab, I don't think you can dye it to a lighter color. And it may surely consume a lot of dye that may entail an expense worthy of buying a new towel. When I get a towel as a gift and I don't like it, I give them to our housemaid. There was a time that a niece made the so called tie-dye artwork using an old towel that is colored blue. The tie-dye created has streaks of yellow and orange that the towel looked cute. But it was passed to their class and I had forgotten about it - that was 4 years ago when my niece was a senior high school.
I feel like with all that dye saturation, the softness and its ability to absorb water might diminish. Also, some dyes might end up rubbing off onto your skin if you don't wash the towels several times to keep them from running. New towels would probably be worth all the trouble and water you'd save.
I have to agree that dyeing towels doesn't seem to be a good idea. You would so many packages of dye that it would be more cost effective to give those ones away and buy new ones. Also the dye will continue to bleed out of the towels, perhaps when you are using them or when you launder them. Thus ruining other clothes in the process. The cost in water to rinse the dye out would be a lot too. I would have to say, just donate them or use them as rags.
The suggestions given thus far are really good. My experience is that usually dying from light to dark is the way it works best. You might try using a little bleach when washing to lighten the darker green giving you more options to color coordinate. But once this method is used there is no reversing it.
