Dyeing to Get Away From Funereal

I love skirts and dresses. I kinda hope to have most of my pants replaced eventually by skirts I thrift or make. So every time I go to a thrift store, I check the skirts and dresses section first. Last week, I found a dress at the Swap & Assist (a thrifty used-stuff place on-post where I can get free clothes.) It's cotton, a bit longer than knee-length, with a square neckline, empire waist, and cap sleeves. It actually looks more like a nightgown than a dress. And, since it was black when I brought it home, it looked like a nightgown you'd wear to a pajama-party themed funeral. Black really didn't suit its simple peasant style.
So, since:
1. it was free;
2. I wasn't going to wear it like it was, so it would have gone to waste; and
3. it was cotton, so it would take well to dyeing...
I dyed it.

Here it is after its eight-hour water-and-bleach bath:

It looks weird because it was soaking wet in the picture. Well, and the uneven coloring, but I assumed that could be fixed.

Yep, that blotchy pink thing used to be 100% black.

After I washed and dried the bleached dress, I prepared a pot of dye.  

Looks gross, smelled even worse. Like how I'd imagine burning tires to smell.

I boiled the dress in the dye for a little while, took it out, rinsed out all the excess dye, and ran it through the washing machine. This is how it looks now:

So, still like a nightgown. But at least a vibrant red nightgown!