Onion skin dyed back pockets - denim upcycle

This thrifted pair needed a bit of natural color!

Because I didn’t want a big project I only dyed the back pockets and sewed them back on afterwards. Tadaa done! I love these cheeky onion skin back pockets and the subtle pop of color they add. Do you have a pair that needs a bit of color?

I recommend using a lighter pair of denims for this project, as the final color will be more strong and vibrant. But any kind of denim works, would be fun to try this on corduroy as well!

Check out the reel for this tutorial here!

Start by removing the back pockets with your seam ripper.

Mordant the pockets with alum acetate or alum tri formiat ideally overnight.

Add two handfuls of red and brown onion skins each into two separate dye pots. Simmer the onion skins with about 1l of water for about 1h.

Add one pre mordanted pocket to each dye pot and leave to dye for about 1h or overnight. The longer you wait, the stronger final color.

Remove the pockets from the dye pots and leave to dry. Drying before washing helps the color to fully fix into the fibre.
You can give them a quick rinse with some ph-neutral detergent (such as wool/silk detergent) before sewing them back on. Of course wait for the pockets to be fully dry before sewing.

Finally sew the pockets on by following the previous seam lines and making sure each pocket is in the right place.

And there we go: onion skin back pockets for the win!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out any time!
All the best,
Nora