What do you do when your favorite article of clothing is ruined by a stain that won't come out, or your favorite white shirt starts to yellow? Don't throw the garment away--you can dye it a brilliant new color to give it a new life. Green is an ideal color to dye shirts, as it is a bright color, yet dark enough to hide a stain.

Consult a color chart to decide the shade of green for your item of clothing. Decide how you want the color to look. Do you want a lighter green shade such as lime, a medium shade like emerald or a darker shade such as olive green? The color chart provided on the Rit Dye website (see References) will tell you what colors to combine to create the shade of green you want. This brand of dye works best on cotton, rayon, silk and nylon. For other types of fabric, you may want to purchase an alternate brand that is more suitable.

Decide how you will dye your item. You can use a 5-gallon bucket, your sink or washing machine to dye clothing. In most cases, the washing machine will not be affected by the dye, but if you are concerned, you may want to use the bucket method instead.

Prepare the dye mix. Use one box of Rit powder for 1 lb. of clothing or half a bottle of the liquid to 3 gallons of hot water. Dissolve powdered dye in 2 cups hot water to mix before adding the color to the rest of the water. For a dark green color, use 2 boxes or 1 full 8-oz. bottle of dye. Darker colors require double the amount of dye to achieve the desired shade.

Launder the item and use a stain treatment to fade the stain as much as possible prior to dyeing. Squeeze the water out of the item and place in the dyeing water. The longer the item soaks in the hot dye water, the darker the color will be. It is safe to leave the item in the dye for up to an hour as long as the water is still hot.

Remove the item from the dye bath and rinse it in cool water until the water turns clear. Wash the clothing in warm water with mild laundry soap and let dry.