DIY: Hand Dyed Curtains "Ritva Meet Rit"

Now that my very first One Room Challenge is complete and I'm starting to figure out this whole blogging thing, I'm catching up on all of the the DIYs including Lily's bright yellow curtains!

I received such an overwhelmingly positive response to this particular DIY on Instagram that I've posted all of the step-by-step details right here. When Lily asked for bright yellow curtains, I immediately thought of an older blog post from "The Little Green Notebook" by the amazing Jenny Komenda.

inspiration: Design by Jenny Komenda from "THe little Green Notebook"

I've used IKEA curtains in nearly every room of our home with some redesigned touches and decided to go for it again with my favourite Ritva panels. They are 100% cotton and completely machine washable which is a must with two young children, two cats and a dog. Next I took a quick trip to Michael's and picked up a few bottles of "Lemon Yellow" Rit liquid dye.

Here is the shopping list for this project:

4 IKEA white "Ritva" curtain panels
4 bottles of "Lemon Yellow" Rit liquid dye
1 cup of salt
1 pair of rubber or latex gloves

How-to:

Fill your bathroom or laundry tub with the hottest water possible.
Add 2 bottles of Rit dye with 1/2 cup of salt (I tested a little dye to see if it would stain the tub first and it didn't).
Add 2 curtain panels to the tub full of water and dye.
Wearing latex gloves, swish the curtains around by hand for about 5 minutes to ensure the colour spreads evenly.
Carefully check the full length of each panel to ensure there are no missed spots.
Drain the tub and rinse the curtains with cold water until the water runs clear.
Machine wash the panels in cold water and dry in the *dryer to set the colour.
Repeat.

*If you are worried about the curtain panels shrinking you can also hang to dry. In my case they were too long and needed hemming.