I love love love tie-dying - and so should you! It's a great summer project to do with kiddos too! It really does appeal to most age groups. Last week, I had a 4 year old, a 7 year old, a 16 year old, and a 17 year old on my deck tie-dying!
Let's get started, shall we?
Tie-dying is a great OUTSIDE activity! We’re doing it inside
today, because after 2 days of 100* + temps, it’s supposed to rain! Yippee!
Obviously, you need to gather things to dye. Today we're going to do some shirts and pillowcases. This is a great way to add new life to an old shirt that may
have small stains. The dye will cover it all! That little one in the front belongs to my 4 year old - girlfriend cannot be trusted with white. :)
Before you begin, everything you plan on dying needs to be
washed. Don’t dry it! Your items need to be damp.
If you’re using soda ash, get that set up when your washer is
almost done. Each dye is different, and some come with the soda ash mixed in with
the dye – check the directions on the box. It’s not necessary to use soda ash,
so don’t stress if you don’t have any. I’ve done lots of dying without it and
never had an issue.
Today I mixed the soda ash in my sink. Last week, I used a clean trash can. Whatever you have works. :)
The fun part!
Supplies
- dye
- salt (if using a dye pack - check the directions)
- bottles (these are Wilton from the candy making section at the craft store)
- measuring cup
- bowls for mixing dye
- gloves
- rubber bands or zip ties
- a cooling rack
- soda ash (if using)
- a pan/casserole dish
- a drop cloth (not shown) to protect your area
*mix your dye according to the directions*
I used Dylon (found at craft stores like JoAnn's).
If using Dylon, add 2 cups of hot water to 1/4 cup of salt in your bowl and stir to dissolve. Next add your dye packet to a large measure cup and add 4 cups of hot water, and stir to dissolve. Then add the dye to the salt water and mix.
Add the dye to your bottles. A funnel is helpful, but not necessary.
This time, I only bough the primary-ish colors. Pink is close enough to red, right? :) The Wilton bottles hold 6oz, so 3oz each of blue and yellow for green and 3 oz each of blue and pink for purple. I found that for orange, it's about 1-1 1/2 oz of pink to 4 1/2-5 oz of yellow.
If you used the soda ash, put your gloves on and squeeze the excess liquid out. You want the fabric to be damp, but not soaking.
(You probably should use gloves through the entire process, but I take my jewelry off and go for it.)
Patterns
swirl
 |
| sheets made last week |
- pinch the middle of your fabric and start spinning
- spin until your fabric is in a circle, then band
 |
| place the cooling rack on your tray, so your fabric isn't sitting in a pool of dye |
Dye your heart out! Make sure you use enough dye - otherwise you'll end up with lots of white space. After you do the top part, flip it over and repeat the dying. When you're done, place it in a plastic bag.
Lines
 |
| pillowcases made last week |
- lay your fabric out flat
- starting on one side, do an accordion fold across the entire piece
- pinch in the middle and spine until it is round
- band and dye!
peace sign
 |
| towels made last week |
 |
| my directions came from here :) |
- fold your fabric in half & draw half a circle (I used a washable marker.)
- open fabric and draw the rest of the peace sign
- refold in half
- fold the bottom section of the peace sign to meet the side line
- then fold the top section down to meet the side line
- pinch the lines together (there will be 3), and clothespin together
- gather the top line - the circle part of the peace sign - and rubber band or zip tie it. It's important that you remember this band is the circle of your peace sign.
- band the rest of your fabric
to dye the peace sign
- carefully put dye along the top of the 3 lines (where your clothes pins were) and around the band for the circle part of the peace sign
- dye the rest of the item
heart
 |
| folding directions from here |
- fold your fabric in half and draw a half heart
- gather/accordion fold - keeping the the marker line straight
- band the line and remember which one it was :)
- band the rest of your item
- dye the marker line band (your heart shape) first, then dye the rest of your piece
random
Band your fabric in a random fashion and have fun! My big kid helped me with this one!
 |
| working on her own peace sign design shirt :) |
After dying each item, place it in a plastic bag, and leave it alone for at least 24 hours. Seriously the hardest part of this whole thing! I'm super impatient, but you get the best results by allowing the dye to set. Promise. :)
After 24 hours, remove from the bag and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear. Remove the bands, and wash on warm or hot water - according to your dye package directions.
Tomorrow we'll check out the results!
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