Now that I’ve made my Little White Panty and Little White Thong, I can’t wait to try out some of my dyeing ideas! If you’ve seen the results of dyeing my Little White Bra, you’ll know I used a dip-dyeing technique, with several colors, to create its beautiful ombré finish. This time, I’m going to do something different: the panty will be immersion-dyed in a mix of colors, and I’m going to dip-dye the thong with just 1 dye color. The kicker: I’ll be using some of the same dye colors as for my LWB, so these panties should coordinate well with the bra (fingers crossed).

Now for the dyeing part. Nearly all the materials in both my LWP and LWT are nylon, including the foldover elastic for the edges. The exception is the cotton knit I’m using for the crotch linings (as in all my panties). So I’m curious to see what happens when I dye both panties; cotton requires something other than the acid dyes I’m planning to use. Maybe it’ll stay that sort of organic-looking off-white, maybe not.

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Tip: For lots more details about dyeing, including what types of dyes to use and when, see my post Dye-IY: A Lesson on Dyeing.

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Immersion dyeing is the simplest process, so let’s start with the panty. For my LWB, I used shades of fuchsia, magenta, and deep blue-violet to create the ombré, so for my panty, I’m going to mix a little of all of these together in the same pot. This will hopefully result in an interesting hybrid color that won’t exactly match the bra, but will be in the same hue family.

Here’s my panty, about 20 minutes after adding it to the crock-pot (remember to never use dye pots for food):

While that’s heat-processing to absorb the rest of the dye, I’ll get started with the thong. I’m going to try dip-dyeing it, like the Little White Bra, but this time, I’m only going to use a single dye mixture, a blend of fuchsia and magenta. My plan is to dunk the whole thong into the dye first, then gradually draw it out (top first), so that the bottom of the thong will be the darkest.

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Tip: Since I’m using acid dyes, which require heat to help the dye bond to the fabric, I used very hot (steaming, but not boiling) water to make my dye mixture for the thong. Based on what I saw with my panty in the immersion bath, I figured the thong would absorb the dye before the water cooled off. Also, I added citric acid to both dye baths, which I prefer to the usually-recommended vinegar. My post about dyeing basics covers this in more detail.

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Timing:

• The LWP took about 40 minutes to absorb all the dye, after which I turned the heat off. (I always let my things cool completely in their dye pots before removing and rinsing them.)
• The entire thong was in its dye bath for only about 3 minutes, just long enough for the top band to get to a light fuchsia. Then I pulled just the band out of the container, leaving about 2/3 of the thong in the dye, for about 20 minutes. Finally, as shown in the photo above, I pulled out more of the thong, leaving only about 1/3 in the dye, for another 30 minutes.

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Tip: Your timing may vary from mine; in fact, it’s very likely that it will be different. A lot depends on the colors you’re using (some pigments absorb faster than others, I’ve noticed), and how dark you want your colors to be. But I think it’s helpful to at least have a guideline to get started with. Remember, dyeing is experimental!

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Results (BYO drum roll):

• The main lace fabric of my LWP, as expected, retained its white flower outlines, which I personally love— it’s so much more dimensional with the color! The flower embellishment picked up very little dye, and the cotton crotch lining, rather surprisingly, did end up a kind of pale lavender color.

  

• My dip-dyed LWT turned out to be very subtly shaded from light to dark fuchsia. I’m thinking that, given all the different materials absorbing dye differently, I might have been better off just immersion-dyeing the LWT like the LWP. But hey, I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try, right?

  

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Tip: For the dip-dye, I think I might have gotten more dramatic light-to-dark results if I’d set up 3 containers, then taken my original dye mixture (what I used here), and diluted it by 50% (mixing the same quantity of water as dye) for the first dip, 25% for the second, and then used the 100% (original) mixture for the darkest dip.

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And now, since I did say I wanted these panties to coordinate with my Little White Bra That Was, here are all 3 pieces-formerly-known-as-White:

No, they don’t match perfectly, but I planned it that way, because (a) they’re mine, and (b) I like a range of tones that harmonize together despite their superficial differences. Like a little underwear family. And this experiment was mostly about using the same dye colors in several different ways, thus:

• The Little White Bra was dip-dyed, with each successive dip using a different dye color (fuchsia, magenta, and deep blue-violet, in that order) to create a dimensional ombré effect;
• The Little White Panty was immersion-dyed in a single dye mixture made with all 3 LWB colors;
• The Little White Thong was dip-dyed in just 1 color from the palette—fuchsia— to create a subtle ombré finish.

You know those disclaimers that say, “Your results may vary”? Well, I hope your results do vary from mine! Color is such a personal thing, and lingerie is possibly even more personal, so give your own Little White Undies beautiful colors, and have fun experimenting!

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Coming next week: The final posts in the Little White Series! I’ll show you what happens when I use the very same dye colors I’ve been using throughout the LWS, but apply them in an entirely different way!

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Resources: If you want to know more about the basics of dyeing, see my post, Dye-IY: A Lesson on Dyeing.

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Update: A kit to make the Little White Panty shown here and in my previous post is now available in my Etsy shop!