- How to restore brightness to brown clothes
- How to return black to clothes
- How to restore brightness to green clothes
- How to restore brightness to any color
- How to return whiteness to white things?
- How to restore color to things professionally
The color of any fabric sooner or later loses its saturation. Most often this happens due to improper care, for example, after washing at high temperatures. The durability of the shade depends primarily on the characteristics of the fabric fiber.
One of the most versatile fibers, cotton, is porous enough to absorb and hold dye. This is why cotton items can be washed at high temperatures. However, when exposed to direct sunlight, almost all natural fabrics will fade - this is due to the destructive effect of ultraviolet radiation on the pigment. In order for summer clothes to remain bright longer, synthetics are added to the composition of the fabric.
What can cause things to lose their former brightness? There are several reasons:
- washing at too high temperatures;
- simultaneous washing of products of different colors;
- influence of ultraviolet radiation;
- using unsuitable detergents;
- use of aggressive stain removers.
How to restore brightness to colored things? It all depends on the original shade of the product. There are many folk ways to make clothes bright again. Before using one or another method, we recommend testing its effect on a piece of similar fabric so as not to spoil the entire thing.
How to restore brightness to brown clothes
You will need nut shells and tobacco. The shells of unripe groundnuts or walnuts are best suited. It needs to be filled with water and allowed to boil for 3-5 minutes over high heat. After this, the aqueous solution should cool to room temperature.
Tobacco is added to the cooled water. It is advisable to use tobacco without impurities - this can be found in specialized stores. The more tobacco you add, the more intense the brown color will be. The fabric must be soaked in the solution: hold for 15-20 minutes and rinse. After this, dry naturally away from direct sunlight.
Detergents
The right detergent will wash the item well without damaging it. Carefully study the composition of the fabric, read the labels on the products and choose the right one.
Basic detergents
Powders.
The most popular remedy. Disadvantage: they dissolve poorly, clog fibers, leave streaks, and make the material rougher. May cause allergies. Are divided into:
- universal – suitable for most fabrics (including colored ones), washable in both lukewarm and hot water;
- special – for silk, wool, black and colored fabrics;
- for children's clothing. Anti-allergenic, only removes fatty spots and sweat;
- for delicate fabrics. Suitable for thin materials.
Detergents (liquid or gels). Economical, dissolves and washes well, and washes gently. Suitable for delicate fabrics. Disadvantage - due to the low concentration of active substances, they wash worse. They cost more than powder.
Auxiliary compounds
- Stain removers. There are universal (for a wide range of stains) and special (for specific stains);
- Air conditioners. Rinse aids. Softens the fabric. They have antistatic and anti-crease properties;
- Rinse aids. Chemical stains (chlorine and oxygen) remove stains, while optical stains are masked with special dyes.
Auxiliary products are often included in the main ones.
How to return black to clothes
Black things look elegant and stylish, but only as long as they have depth of color. As soon as the product fades, it loses its former luster and becomes unsuitable for further use.
You can return the black color to clothes using an aqueous solution of tobacco or vinegar. After washing, saturate the product with a mixture of 1 liter of water and 20 grams of tobacco solution, paying special attention to the seams. Or soak your dress, jacket or trousers in water with three tablespoons of ordinary household vinegar (for a maximum of 20 minutes). These two simple ways will make your favorite black clothes look elegant and vibrant again.
9: Use Curves - Advanced
When you use curves, you adjust the relative brightness of color channels. The lower the curve, the lower the luminosity of the channel (in fact, the process is a little more complicated, but this is the result that concerns us in this context). For this reason, if you need to significantly reduce the strength of a particular channel(s), you will end up with a darker photo.
To remedy the situation, use opposite complementary colors. As an example, here's the photo above that was too blue: Instead of turning down the blue channel and letting the yellow show through (which would make the photo much darker than expected), try boosting the red and green channels by about the same amount and get a similar result , and the overall brightness of the image will increase.
This technique is more difficult because it requires a strong conceptual understanding of the additive color model, or at least the diligence to practice what channels to use and when.
The opposite situation is when you need to enhance the main color (for example, if the photo is very purple), increasing the value of the green channel risks getting too bright a photo. In such a situation, it is better to reduce the red and blue channels by the same amount and get a similar effect, but with a lower brightness of the image.
This is by far my favorite part of the color correction process, but it does take quite a lot of time, even though I went to art school. Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to working with color. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
The colors are similar, but the second shot is much brighter. Again, I deliberately went overboard with the curves to clearly demonstrate the effect.
How to restore brightness to green clothes
This method is suitable for things in calm green shades. To return their color, all you need is onion peeling. You only need a little bit for a few liters of boiling water. It is important to remember: the more onion peel, the more brown tint in color; The less onion peel, the greener the color.
After cooling, you need to add three tablespoons of salt to the solution and soak the product for 20 minutes, then rinse in water with a small amount of vinegar in order to consolidate the color restoration effect.
Store-bought dyes
To return clothes to their original color, you can use modern chemical products. There is paint in a variety of shades, including: purple, pink, green, yellow and many others. Before use, read the instructions. Be careful and do not buy untested products - they can stain the skin, other things, and cause allergies. When diluting the dye, use enamel or steel utensils and wear gloves.
Rice. 3 - Store-bought fabric dyes
How to restore brightness to any color
There are several simple recipes that will help refresh almost any shade. Such methods will only work if the color has faded a little; for difficult cases, we recommend professional dry cleaning, which uses special dyes.
In simple cases, you will need starch, salt, laundry soap and citric acid. All ingredients must be mixed and dissolved in water. The volume of water can be anything - it all depends on how many things you are going to update. The product must be soaked in the resulting solution for at least 12 hours, then rinsed and dried in the shade. In most cases, this method helps restore brightness to clothes.
If things have faded, excess color can be removed with ammonia. To do this, add 50 ml of alcohol to boiling water where things have already been soaked.
Please note: this method is not suitable for delicate fabrics such as silk or lawn; it is only used for those that can withstand high temperatures. In addition, ammonia in combination with boiling water will literally erase the remaining pigment from the fiber, and it will need to be dyed again.
1: Use gray cards
These things work wonders when shooting in controlled environments where you can influence the amount of lighting or at least the subject. Taking an initial photo with a gray card in the frame provides an area that will serve as a reference area of 18% gray. If you are not familiar with this concept, this paragraph may not seem entirely clear to you. Just know that we are trying to set a benchmark that can be used when working with white balance in Photoshop/Lightroom/ACR. You can also use larger gray cards/objects to calibrate your camera's white balance.
That's the problem. I often see articles about color grading ending after a discussion of white balance. To be honest, by setting the correct white balance, you will not get an absolutely “correct” photo. If there are mixed light sources in the frame (for example, fluorescent lamps or tungsten filament lamps), some objects may take on a completely different shade of color. Trying to fix all this is quite difficult! However, gray cards are always a good first step towards achieving the desired result.
- The gray 12" x 12" card can be purchased on Amazon.
How to return whiteness to white things?
The pigment-etching properties of ammonia are useful in restoring the whiteness of white things. For example, cotton bed linen can be boiled with the addition of 100 grams of ammonia - this will make it snow-white.
For delicate white fabrics that have stains, you can use a mixture of starch, salt, soap and citric acid. All ingredients must be mixed with warm water and soaked for 7-12 hours. After the stains have been removed, you can rinse the products with special store-bought products that restore whiteness.
Among “grandmother’s” advice you can find a recommendation to wash white clothes exclusively with laundry soap. Indeed, the alkali contained in its composition helps restore the intensity of the white color. But the smell of clothes after washing with classic “72%” soap leaves much to be desired. An excellent solution would be to use the so-called “Finnish” soap, or “Antipyatina”. Both products have a pleasant smell while maintaining whitening properties.
Delicate chemical bleaches
Typically used for washing clothes. Before using them, you need to read the instructions. Otherwise, the products may be damaged.
The most popular soft bleaches:
- Perox. Used for all types of material. It consists of surfactants and bleaching agents that not only remove stains, but also add brightness to things.
- "Vanish" Safe because it does not contain chlorine. Can be used even at low temperatures. Suitable even for wool and silk.
How to restore color to things professionally
If clothes have lost color after lying in the closet for a long time or after intensive use, we recommend contacting a professional tailor or dry cleaner to restore the color. Especially if the items are expensive or made using designer patterns. In this case, folk remedies may behave unpredictably and destroy the product.
You can try to dye plain items again yourself, using special dyes for different types of fabrics. The easiest materials to dye at home are jeans, linen and cotton. We do not recommend experimenting with velvet, silk and tapestry. But lace, despite its delicate design, can easily be repainted at home.
To ensure that your wardrobe is always bright, always follow the recommendations on product labels - in them, manufacturers indicate all the conditions necessary for clothing to last a long time.
If the fabric has become dull, you can refresh its appearance using the recommendations described above.
And if you are planning to update your wardrobe, check out the catalog of our online store. It contains fabrics of different shades. You can buy selected materials with delivery throughout Russia. Fabric catalog
General rules
New items usually have labels that indicate how to wash these clothes: at what temperature, whether washing and spinning are possible. By following these instructions, you can keep your products in their original form for a long time.
Before washing, items are divided by color. Contrasting products should not lie in place; one of them will spoil the color of the other.
Detergents need the correct dosage. Colored items are usually washed with products marked “color”.
Any clothes need to be rinsed thoroughly, especially colored and dark ones. Therefore, modern devices have a special mode.
But even with proper handling of wardrobe items, they gradually fade. This happens due to:
- frequent washing and rubbing of the material;
- influence of the sun's rays;
- long-term storage in a closet
Preparing for washing
The washing result depends to a large extent on the preparation of items for the process. In order not to end up with an unintelligible lump with stains instead of fresh things, you need to perform a number of simple manipulations before starting the machine.
Getting things ready
- duvet covers and pillowcases are washed inside out. Turn them inside out and clean out dirt stuck in the seams and corners of the products with a toothbrush;
- Turn out knitted and terry skirts, trousers, hosiery;
- on blouses and shirts, straighten the folded cuffs and collars for better washing;
- free curtains from removable fasteners: hooks, rings, etc.;
- fasten items with buttons, zippers, and hooks; unfasten items with buttons. Tie the laces and ribbons so they don’t get tangled;
- empty your pockets.
Sorting fabrics
- by color. Dark, light and colored items are washed separately. Some classify pastel fabrics and patterned products into separate categories. Fabrics that can fade also require an individual approach;
- according to the degree of contamination. Fabrics that require pre-washing or stain treatment are washed separately;
- according to temperature conditions. If possible, study the labels on items and wash fabrics that require the same temperatures in one wash. Do not mix silk and wool fabrics with cotton and linen;
- by texture. A hard, dense product can damage the thin fabric of underwear or, for example, curtains;
- according to the pile. Threads from terry towels may remain on the sheets;
- Velvet and plush products should not be washed. It's better to take it to the dry cleaner.
