Day 166 - How to tie dye anything.

September 12th, 2012.

How to tie dye anything you wish.

Whether you want to relive simpler times or you just love vibrant colours, tie dyed clothing can be a fun addition to any weekend wardrobe. Tie-dye should not be worn to work, even on casual Friday. Instead it should be reserved for fundays! 

You Will Need:

Clothing dye (cold or warm water dyes) several colours (follow direction on packs to prepare dye)

Garment to be dyed, at least 50% cotton.

Rubber bands.

Rubber gloves.

Squeeze bottles.

Plastic sheets or bag.

Ziploc bag.

Apron or old clothes.

Step One:

Change into old clothes or put on apron. Lay out plastic sheet or bags. Put on rubber gloves.

Step Two:

Prepare the dyes as instructed on the package. Put dye into squeeze bottles.

Step Three:

Prepare the shirt. It should be clean. Using rubber band bind up the garment. There are several ways you can do this. 1.Grab it from middle and fold it the outer edges down. Wrap rubber bands, a few inches apart, down the length. 2. Grab it from middle and fold it the outer edges down. Twist the garment. Wrap rubber bands, a few inches apart, down the length. 3. Lay the garment flat. Place a dowel or pencil in the center of the garment and twist. Twist until this creates a swirl in a flat disc. Wrap rubber bands across the length in all directions.

Step Four:

Using the dye in the squeeze bottles, colour the garment. If you are using the second method, you can create a beautiful swirl with three colours. (Mentally divide the garment into thirds, pie shaped thirds, and apply a different dye to each third.)

Step Five:

When you have completed applying the dye, wrap the shirt in a Ziploc bag, eliminate all the air in the bag. Let the bag sit for 8 to 36 hours in a warm place. 24 hours is the the optimum time for the dye to bond to the garment. Too short it will not bond, too long it will get super fuzzy.

Step Six: 

Put on old clothing or apron and rubber gloves. Unwrap the garment and remove the rubber bands. 

Step Seven:

Still wearing gloves, rinse in cold running water. Loads of dye will come out of the garment when you rinse it out. Rinse, rinse rinse until the water runs clear. 

Step Eight:

Hang to dry. After the item is dry, you can starting caring for the garment as you normally would any t-shirt. Basically wash it in a washing machine, alone for the first few time, and dry in dryer. 

TA-DA!