Ever tried to tie-dye and not quite ended up with something that was wearable? It’s easy to end up with random splotches of color or brown spots if you don’t know how to do it. Here’s a step by step guide to making sure that your tie-dyed shirts look awesome.
Materials:
• Plain white t-shirts (100% cotton works best)
• Tie-dye kit
— I really like Tulip® One-Step Tie-Dye Kit™ – it comes with everything you need, including gloves and rubber bands
• Garbage bags or newspaper to cover the space
— I prefer garbage bags because you can just wipe up the dye
• Old rag
• Plastic zipper bags (preferably gallon)
Here’s how to do the swirl pattern (shirts 1 & 2).
1. First, follow the instructions on your dye to mix it and presoak your t-shirts if the dye requires it (Tulip® One-Step Tie-Dye Kit™ doesn’t, that’s one reason why I like it).
— Make sure to always wear gloves when mixing and using the dye. I ended up with blue hands for days.
2. Wet your t-shirt and lay flat
. 3. Pinch the center of your t-shirt and twist.
4. Continue twisting until you have a small circle with a swirl pattern inside.
— This might take a few tries to get right.
5. Put 3 rubber bands on the shirt so that you have 6 pie pieces.
— The rubber bands might distort and squish your swirl a little bit, as long as it still has a swirl on the inside and doesn’t look too messy, this is fine.
6. Next apply the dye to the t-shirt.
— Make sure to cover your workspace before you start dying.
7. If you apply one color to each of the pie pieces (pieces across from each other get the same color), you will get the alternating color swirls. If you apply the dye in concentric circles, you will get the swirls with bullseye areas of concentrated colors.
8. Flip your shirt over and do the same pattern on the other side.
— Make sure you put new paper down or wipe your area before you set your shirt back down.
9. Once you’re done dying your shirt, put it in a plastic bag and let it sit the amount of time your dye requires.
10. Rinse and unfold. For more interesting patterns
: — Create more than once swirl and tie the same way.
— Fold your shirt in half and swirl.
— Dye your shirt with a solid color + and use the other colors in the triangles (use the same color for triangles across from each other)
— For the bullseye, pinch the middle of your shirt and pull upwards making your shirt into a tube. Rubber band and dye each section a different color.
— For the polka dot bullseyes, rubber band sections of the t shirt. Dye the majority of the rubber banded section one color and the end another. Lightly apply a solid color dye to the whole shirt.