Ombre, Ombre, Ombre Series! {DIY Ombre Drapes}

What is up, ombre hombres!! I hope you all are in as gooda' mood as I am! After what felt like endless days of darkness here in Germany, we are finally getting some sun! Das ist tre fabulous, ja! That was my GerFrenchEnglish (my language of choice). I have also been decking my halls with a little touch of Fall decor. The leaves around our hills are starting to turn, and our village smells of wood burning ovens. Ahhh the warm, crisp scent of fall is so beautiful and thick it's almost tangible....edible! After this tutorial, I promise I will get some autumn posts up... 

So, this is part two of my mini ombre series. This time around, we are moving on to bigger things...

DRAPES!!! If you haven't read my tutorial for how to ombre napkins, click here to read it now. To dye the drapes, you basically do the exact same thing as my tutorial for napkins, just on a larger scale with a few modifications. I am seriously in love with ombre dying things... it is beyond easy. I anticipate ombre-ing pillows, clothes, maybe some dish towels. 

I purchased a pair of cheap-o drapes from Ikea for 14.00 Euro, that's less than $20. Ikea is a great place to get decent textiles for a really low price. After you found the drapes you want to dye, you are going to prepare your dye bath and wash your fabric like we did for the napkins. I would recommend using 1-1/2 to 2 boxes of the die for this much fabric. I used Rit dye in "Pearl Grey" that I brought home from The States. I don't believe you can get Rit in Germany, but you can probably order it from America. If you don't feel like doing that and you are inpatient like myself, one of my wonderful readers mentioned that you can get a dye called "Simplicol" here in Germany. 

You will need to line up the tops of both of your drapes and also the bottoms of both your drapes, so the dye level will be the same for each drape. I only wanted to ombre the bottom of my drapes. I wanted it to appear as though they are a painter's drop-cloth that is absorbing paint slowly. 

Like with the napkins, you will dip the drapes in as far up as you want the ombre to go, for a few seconds... I recommend 3-5 seconds. Pull out a third of that, leave the other 2/3's in the dye for about 15-30 seconds to a few minutes (depending on how your fabric is taking the dye). You will want to make sure that you keep the fabric down in the dye by pushing it in. Pull another third out and leave the very bottom of the drapes in for about 15 minutes. The longer you leave it in, the more saturated color you will get. 

As you pull the fabric out of the dye bath, your fabric will get a soft faded watercolored  look. I have it draped over a bowl to catch dye-water dripping off the fabric, so it doesn't get all over my butcher's block.

My home has turned into a dye factory...

Once it is done soaking in the dye, you will rinse the drapes out with hot water, (just like we did with the napkins) holding the lightest part up so the dye doesn't rinse out into the white. You will rinse the drapes, until the water runs clear. Wash with detergent in hot water, dry and your drapes are good to go! 

Again, I left the drapes crinkly so it has that "drop cloth" look. I love how it makes the drapes informal and gives the soft ombre depth and texture. 

For under $25, you have a pair of gorgeous, custom, ombre drapes! At that price, they can be dyed and changed seasonally... I may just have to do that. What will you be dying this weekend?

DON'T FORGET to enter my amazing giveaway from Jen at City Farmhouse!  Click the picture below to enter! 

P.S. If you like my fabulous Lindsay Letter's deer art, click here!