I Need This Specific Shade of Fabric - Help with Fabric Dyeing!

So I saw this amazing lehenga on Pinterest. It was olive green and had amazing lakhnavi embroidery. And I’ve found a similar pattern too, but just not the exact shade of color.

I’ve been to several fabric shops and asked them for this shade of color and they don’t have the exact thing I want. My heart is stuck on just this color. No I don’t want juniper green, sage green, shamrock green, or basil green. I. WANT. THIS. PARTICULAR. OLIVE. GREEN.

Someone did mention fabric dyeing to me and I’m not quite sure how it works. Does it ruin the fabric? Will the color wash out? Will the fabric start looking old? I’ve heard of some bad things and I don’t know if they’re real or not.

UNTIL… I actually bit the bullet and went for dyeing. I read about fabric dyeing at Desi Roots and I’ll share my experience here. Let me take you through the steps.

Step 1. Select the right fabric

I selected a beautiful lakhnavi dyeable fabric. That’s an important step. The fabric you choose must be dyeable. Dyeable fabrics are white or off-white. But not all white fabrics are dyeable.

Step 2. Select the color

At Desi Roots, they follow the Neelam threadbook. It’s the same Telephone brand you might have heard about. Just select a shade from the book and tell them about it.

You’ll notice that shades are given in numbers. This way, it becomes convenient to tell them the shade you want.

Psst…. You can get multiple colors in ombre and tie and dye patterns as well.

Step 3. Give them time

This is tricky. Dyeing takes some time, especially in the monsoon months because fabrics are hand dyed and sundried.

But that’s the fun part. Custom made things that are made by skilled artisans by hand and not by machines that process things in bulk batches. Nope, this one is made especially for me

Step 4. Receive the fabric

Once the fabric is dyed and done, it will be sent to you. Now, keep in mind that it will lose some color in the first wash so wash it separately. Don’t worry, the color won’t fade away.

There’s always some excess color that will be lost primarily in the first wash and then somewhat in the second wash.

So there’s that! I finally have my favorite color of lehenga and I’ve already worn it at my friend’s wedding and at Rakshabandhan. Everybody loved it too! I think I deserve to flaunt that I do have good taste in fashion.