aryanhwy | because he's clever that way

Last week after I ruined a new pair of cream-colored cotton/linen pants by running it through the wash with a pen, Joel went out and got both hairspray and nail polish remover and diligently worked to remove the stains. They did lighten considerably, but they were still not suitable for wearing out in public. But then he had a very clever idea: The last time he was out getting drain cleaner he noticed that one of the drugstores also had fabric dye, so why not get some navy or black dye and try to cover up the spots by dying the pants? Since they're cotton/linen blend, they should take the color just fine.

So yesterday I went out and picked up some navy dye (I went out planning to get blue if they had a dark enough shade so that I'd be sure it'd cover up the stains, if not, then I'd get black, but when I actually go to the store and saw all the options, I was sorely, sorely tempted by the purple...), and tried it out. It worked great. Not only are the pants salvaged (we can't even see where the spots are any more, since neither of us remember which pant leg they were on), but they're darned spiffy looking. Since the thread is polyester, and the buttons are plastic, they naturally didn't dye, so I've got not just navy blue linen pants, but navy blue linen pants with nifty cream colored detailing:

pants

They're the sort of thing I might have actually gone out and bought. And since 8EUR for the dye is less than what I paid for the pants themselves (and they were on sale so it's unlikely I'd be able to replace them for that cost), this was a nice cheap solution.

My husband, he's clever. Sure am glad to have him around.