The Rit Blog

Color-Blocking Is Everywhere!

Edie — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:29:29 +0000

Get ready gals, cause color is the name of the fashion game in 2012. IT'S ALL ABOUT COLOR!...

What better way to show off those huge hues but with some fantastic color blocking? Grab your favorite shades and mix it all up however you like. You'll be seeing bold layered looks, dresses in cool colorful geometrics and even some super sweet, dip-dyed fashions. Of course, for you DIY divas, we've got you covered with updated recipes in our ColoRit Color Formula Guide to mix up most any custom shade to suit your fancy. We’ve got all the trendy new colors, plus, we created new recipes to match the Top 10 Pantone Colors for Spring 2012. Now, just how sweet is that?

OK, time to jump on this fashion train and to get you rev'd up and inspired, we've got some fun color-blocking tutorials coming your way. We'll be posting them on the blog and updating them here as well. So, check back soon and get DIY'ing!!

#1 BOLD COLOR PONCHO

#2 MOD ART DRESS

#3 BOLD COLOR JEANS

#4 COLOR BLOCK JACKET

REFASHION #1: TRI-COLOR TRENCH COAT

REFASHION #2: DYNAMIC DIP-DYE SWEATER

REFASHION #3: BLUESY TWO-TONED SCARF

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Get ready gals, cause color is the name of the fashion game in 2012. What better way to show off those huge hues but with some fantastic color-blocking? You can choose to add one fabulous color to your wardrobe, or go for maximum impact by combining two or three colors. And we’ve got you covered with all the trendy new colors loaded in our ColoRit Color Formula Guide. Now, just how sweet is that?

Color-Block Refashion #3: Bluesy Two-Tone Scarf

Renate — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:46:53 +0000

More color block fun! Today, it's a super easy, two-tone scarf refashion. This cutie scarf started out as a rather boring, almost black, jersey scarf and in need of some serious color. Of course, dark colors like this can't be overdyed but... with the Rit Color Remover, you can magically remove some or all of the color so you can redye it. In this case, the scarf was folded and rolled to remove half the black color and then redyed with Rit Evening Blue to create a great vertical stripe effect.

Wanna see how? Here's the tutorial:

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More color block fun! Today, it's a super easy, two-tone scarf refashion. This cutie scarf started out as a rather boring, almost black, jersey scarf and in need of some serious color.

NY Fashion Week Fall 2012 Review

Dianne — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:13:18 +0000

Fall 2012 is all about glamour, texture, shine and new color combinations! Long dresses and gowns added hints of glamour. Faux fur appeared in many collections, looking natural or dyed in colors ranging from bright reds and blues to powder pinks and blues. Dyed patent leather, with touches of animal skin prints, created shine all the way down the runway, making its way into jackets, coats and dresses. And, for even more impact, the shine of patent leather was mixed with faux fur.

Color Trends

Here at Rit we’re all about color – here’s what we spotted on the runways.

Black & White Plus Color

Many collections started with black, some with grey or variations of black and white plus a spark of color. The bright colors mixed with black and white create a dramatic color block statement. Check out the black and white color block dress accented with red shoes. Or, mix black with red, yellow or cobalt blue.

Grey, Grey and More Grey

It’s the new neutral. To update your wardrobe, why not start with a grey cocktail dress topped with a grey fedora, Donna Karan style. Be even more dramatic, adorn yourself in a grey hat, skirt with padded hips (watch out their coming) and a shawl held in place with a gigantic safety pin, Marc Jacobs style.

Tangerine Tango Alive & Well

Tangerine Tango, Pantone’s 2012 color of the year, continued to walk down the runway, making its way into many fall collections. Sometimes it appeared darker, almost burnt, but always there, sometimes peeking through sheer dresses!

Emerging Gold

Gold, looking burnt by the sun, made an on-trend fashion statement. Looking new and fresh, whether standing alone or paired with an emerald green jacket and turquoise pants or combined with dark brown and powder blue.

Glamorous Faux Fur & Slick Shine

Baby Pink and powder blue pants with matching dyed faux fur added style and glamour to the fall runway, and dyed Bordeaux patent leather created a slick, shine of its own.

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Fall 2012 is all about glamour, texture, shine and new color combinations! We've got your round-up of the fashion fun here.

Color-Block Refashion #2: Dynamic Dip-Dye

Renate — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:53:36 +0000

For one of the easiest, DIY color-blocking ideas EVER, check out this fun dip-dyed, sweater refashion. Of course, we all have a ton of regular, solid-color sweaters in our closet, well, how about giving one a little fashion facelift by adding an extra stripe of color?

This sweater was a bright, bright lime-green and could take a bit of stripey action. So it got a quick dip of the waist and cuff ribbing in a dye bath of Rit Evening Blue dye.

But wait... that doesn't look like blue!! Of course, that's because when you overdye a very yellow green with blue the colors blend to make a new deep green shade. Pretty nifty, right? Of course, if you started with an old white sweater, you could dye it first to this lemon-lime shade with recipe #578 on our ColoRit Color Guide and then go on to the dip-dye.

Take a peek at these tips for more overdyeing/color blending ideas. The color combinations are endless especially if you know a bit of basic color theory. Remember your color wheel from grade school? Well, now's the time to get it spinning again!

OK, ready to get color dipping? Here's the tutorial:

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For one of the easiest DIY color-blocking ideas EVER, check out this fun dip-dyed sweater refashion. More color = more fun!!

Last Minute Valentine's Day Idea: A Sweet-♡ Felt Garland

Renate — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:24:40 +0000

Need a quick idea to decorate for a Valentine's Day party? You can whip this felted heart garland up in no time. I was inspired when making the wool felt hearts for a recent Vday wreath. So I dyed a few more pieces of wool in Cherry Red, Fuchsia and Petal Pink and strung them up in this cutie pie garland.

Here's basically the how-to:

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Need a quick idea to decorate for a Valentine's Day party? You can whip this felted heart garland up in no time.

We Heart Buttons For Valentine's Day!

Dianne — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:43:24 +0000

Looking for a last minute Valentine’s Day gift idea for someone you care about? Dye up a big batch of white buttons in Cherry Red dye. This is really fun and takes literally just a few minutes! The buttons add a colorful element of surprise but double as flower frogs to help keep the roses standing up straight. If you dye a lot of buttons, you can fill up a gift tin and give that along with the roses. Button-filled gift tins also make fun table favors.

We've been button-happy making all kinds of buttony crafts to decorate for most any occassion. Want to see more inspiration? Take a peek at this dyed button tutorial, this elegant button necklace, embellished Tee, button wreath, AND... this sweet button cuff bracelet. Oh, the DIY potential is endless!!

And here's today's tutorial:

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Looking for a last minute Valentine’s Day gift idea for someone you care about? Dye up a big batch of white buttons in Cherry Red dye to decorate for the holiday!

Felt Hearts Valentine's Day Wreath

Renate — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:35:24 +0000

What says Valentine's Day better than hearts and flowers? That's the inspiration for this sweetheart wreath idea. Embellished with dyed paper flowers and dyed wool felt hearts, it's a charming way to decorate for the holiday. To set off the design, a 3-D felted heart ornament hangs from the center, kinda like a big cupid's bullseye!

And... it's very easy to make too! It's assembled by simply pinning all the elements in place with decorative pearlized straight pins. The beauty of this design is that it can be redecorated over and over again using most anything that strikes your fancy. Actually, this Valentine's wreath started out as this Christmas-themed wreath we recently featured here on the blog.

Pretty tricky, huh? Wanna see how we did it?

Here's the tutorial:

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What says Valentine's Day better than hearts and flowers? Embellished with dyed-paper flowers and dyed-wool felt hearts, it's a charming way to decorate for the holiday.

Color-Block Refashion #1: The Tri-Color Trench Coat

Renate — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:59:05 +0000

Who doesn't want to jump into this season's Color-Block trend? You don't need to go shopping to add some vibrant color energy into your wardrobe. You can refresh and refashion some of the fave items already in your closet with a bit of dye.

I started with this drab, khaki trench coat that I never seem to wear.

Instead of just overdyeing it, which would blend with the original khaki color, I decided to remove half of the color and redye it. Using the Rit Color Remover on the bottom half, cuffs and belt, the jacket was ready for an infusion of pure Tangerine Tango and Evening Blue. How's that for a real color pop?

By now we all know that tantalizing Tangerine Tango is the 2012 Pantone Color of the Year and easy to DIY with equal parts Rit Tangerine and Sunshine Orange dyes. Check out all the Pantone recipes on our ColoRit Color Guide for more fab fashionista inspiration.

I'm so excited by the results, even the buttons dyed so nicely to match! Win-Win!

OK, get set for some dye magic cause here's the full how-to:

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You don't need to go shopping to add some vibrant color energy into your wardrobe. You can refresh and refashion some of the fave items already in your closet with a bit of dye.

Valentine Love Letter Tee

Edie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:12:21 +0000

Recently in my travels on Pinterest, I spotted an absolutely lovely T-shirt project by Katy of Sweet Verbena. It was so clever and elegant. Using Elmer’s School Glue Gel, (that's the blue one) she wrote an inspiring message all across her shirt. After the glue dried, it acted as a resist during the dyeing process, creating a batik-like effect. Like I said, it was absolutely lovely and the technique was super-cool so how could I... um, resist?

That's right, I was inspired to make my own version for Valentine’s Day with a special message to wear for my guy! My message reads … I love you not only for who you are but for who I am when I’m with you! OK, so maybe it's a little mushy but, hey, we're allowed to be mushy once a year.

OK, here's my homage to Sweet Verbena. See what you think:

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Recently in my travels on Pinterest, I spotted an absolutely lovely T-shirt project by Katy of Sweet Verbena. It was so clever and elegant, how could I "resist".

Crafting Celebs at CHA

Dianne — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:54:20 +0000

The show is closing down today, but here are a few of the crafters I was able to catch up with at the show, plus two more inspirational displays.

Mark Montano was signing copies of his new book, The Big-Ass Book of Crafts 2, published by Gallery Books. What an awesome book! It’s packed full of the most amazing creative projects including: jewelry, scarves, belts, outdoor projects, funky furniture, tote bags, kids’ projects, cards, sculptures and more!

Beckie Farrant and I connected at the show. You’ll remember her from the crafter’s blog campaign we did with her back in December. If you’re not familiar with her blog stop by Infarrantly Creative to see her amazing “Trash to Treasure” projects. Most recently she created the Crutches Floor Lamp.

Cindi Bisson is a mixed-media artist and the Associate Producer for When Creativity Knocks, an online craft TV show. Cindi most recently created a “Love with all your Heart” Valentine’s Day card using Rit.

More Creative Inspiration

Yarn as Art was the theme in the Lion Brand Company booth. This was one of my favorite graphic displays that got my creative juices flowing. This wall art piece was made by the designers at Lion Brand Yarn. It features bright saturated colors of yarn, but one of their goals was to show how the same color looks differently depending on the color that’s next to it.

Trees -- All forms and shapes of trees appeared in various booths. Most companies used them to display their products. Perhaps it symbolized the general interest and trend in crafting green. Here’s a beautiful beaded tree draped with beads, butterflies and other trimmings on display in the DCWV booth.

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The show is closing down today, but here are a few of the crafters I was able to catch up with at the show.