February 16, 2024

Trendy Colour Dye Recipes SS2024 - Lime

There is no question Lime is going to be one of the new colours in our wardrobes in 2024. Whether it's an accessory, a jumper or even a jacket, we'll be somewhat drawn to it. Here is a Versace look for SS2024, Donatella uses it extensively in a large number of looks. This is more a muted, paler lime. We will be going for the full, almost neon, true lime.

Because I had to do a custom commission, I decided to do some experimentation around the lime recipe for dyeing. Remember dyeing is a way to reuse something that would otherwise not get worn. So if the new lime stuff they are selling at the cool stores is not accessible, I suggest you dye something you own or buy a second hand white and dye it!

I use RIT dyes, the liquid ones, as they are my favourites and most sustainable. When I experiment with colours I always visit their colour formula page on the website, it's a great resource to start understanding which dyes you will be needing to find the perfect shade for you. I knew my base colour would be neon green and the addition would be lemon yellow. I only needed to know how many part of one and the other.

After some experimenting adding more or less parts of yellow as you can see below, I found the perfect balance.

If you are keen to do this process of finding the perfect shade yourself you are going to need some jars (or glasses, as long as they are transparent so you can see) the two or three dyes that will form the colour you want, and a pipette/liquid dropper. Also, get some tissue paper or fabric to submerge in the glasses to see the colour applied to reality. As usual, pour some water, salt or vinegar in the glasses, and then add the dye with pipettes. Experiment with more of one colour, less of the other and viceversa. Submerge the tissue/fabirc samples for at least 5 to 10 minutes. Once you get the tissue/fabric samples out remember to write the combination of dyes you used or to keep only the one you want to use.

Now, the perfect Lime shade for me was:

1 Part Neon Green

1.5 Part Lemon Yellow

That means the upper line in the picture below. It means that if you want to dye a cotton tee for example I would use 100ml of Neon Green and 150ml of Lemon Yellow. Always add to the dye bath/dye solution the agent that will help the bonding of the dye with the fabric which is salt for natural fibers and vinegar for animal fibers.