Tie Dying

I am going to show you how to do a fun activity with your friends and family. It is creative and the product is unique to each person. I am going to explain how to tie dye a shirt in 5 easy steps. There are many different ways to do it, but this is how I do it. Tie dying shirts is a fun activity to do with friends and family. It can be done indoors or outdoors. Tie dye can be done on any fabric item and it can be done using dyes or bleach.

Step 1:

First, gather all of the supplies. We are going to need a plain white shirt, hoodie, jacket, or any item of clothing or just any fabric, fabric dye, rubber bands, water, and something to protect the surface of wherever it is being done.

Step 2:

Next, lay down the item used to protect the surface. Fabric dye will stain any surface it touches, so this will help the surface being used from being stained by the dye. This will also make the clean-up process a lot easier. Make sure there is enough of the protective covering for the whole area and some extra. This will make it so that if there is a spill or if the dye splatters, the surface is protected.

Step 3:

After that is done, put rubber bands on the fabric item that was chosen. The way that the rubber bands are put on the item will determine the pattern that appears on the item being dyed. Try to secure the rubber bands tightly so that the dye doesn’t bleed into the other colors. I had chosen to do a crumble/crinkle pattern. That is where the fabric item is crumbled up and rubber bands are secured in random locations on it.

Step 4:

Then the item needs to be damp so that the fabric dye will spread better. After the item is dampened, begin dying it with colors of choice. This will take some time, depending on how much dye is being used in each section. Many different colors can be used, but I decided to use two and the colors I decided to use were pink and black. After I dampened the shirt, I had put black where I wanted it and then put the pink where I wanted it. I then saturated the shirt as much as I felt was necessary.

Step 5:

After the item is dyed, let it sit for 2-24 hours. Once those hours are over, wash the item in warm water and with white vinegar if you choose. The white vinegar will prevent the dye from bleeding into the other colors. I let my shirt sit for 6 hours then decided to rinse it. I made sure to wear gloves while rinsing the shirt out and I used warm water. I chose not to use white vinegar on this shirt. Dry the item, then the tie dye project is complete!