Everywhere you look, you see Tie Dye shirts, hoodies, loungewear, anything you can think of. It’s back! Did it ever really leave? Nope. There’s an excellent tie-dye kit I found at Walmart if you’re feeling adventurous and want to jump on that tie-dye bandwagon. At our house, we love tie-dye! Our kids love anything tie-dye. I’ve seen tie-dyed clothes selling for $50, $200, or more! Now, you can buy it or make it. Either way, it’s a cool trend that I’ve always loved.
Methods
There are two methods to try: regular tie-dye and reverse tie-dye. I learned how to do this reverse method from The DIY Designer-Orly Shani on YouTube. If you haven’t seen her videos, I recommend you check her out. She has some great DIYs!
You can create different designs like the spiral, swirl, crumple, or splatter. There’s no perfect way to tie-dye; you go with what you like. Here on the blog, I’ll show you step by step instructions I incorporated from The DIY Designer on “how to” with pictures to follow.
Tie-Dye Kit
I’ve found this cute kit with everything you need at Walmart. It comes with gloves, a tablecloth, rubber bands, 19 dyes in pre-made bottles, instructions, and this tremendous little storage case. If you don’t want to buy each item, this is a great kit, and it gets the job done. It’s only $13!
You can reuse the bottles, and the bin is suitable for storage. It’s an excellent kit for preteens, teens, and adults. You can’t go wrong with this kit. You can buy individual dyes; I recommend using Jacquard Procion powder dye. I ended up using both. Let’s dive in!
Materials
White shirts or black shirts or white sweatshirts/ black sweatshirts or sweatpants (with or without logos).
Gloves–dish gloves or plastic latex gloves will work. I prefer the plastic gloves. Dish gloves are thicker, and the color won’t run down inside the glove.
Plastic bottles-a pack of 10 plastic bottles for $11 on Amazon, great deal.
Dye-Now, this depends on personal preference. You can buy powdered dye (easier to tweak or finesse colors if needed) or liquid, like RIT dyes. I prefer to use powder. You can create your own color by blending different dyes.
Scissors (optional)-fabric scissors
Trash bags-Covering your work area with trash bags is worth the clean up.
Rubber bands
Plastic bin
Rack (optional)
Regular Tie Dye Method
~If using the powdered dye: use 2 tablespoons or cut that in half to make lighter pastel colors.
Step 1: Cover your work area with a plastic tablecloth or trash bags-I cut a few trash bags and placed them on the table.
Step 2: Pre-wash your fabric-This is an important step if you want your colors to be vibrant on t-shirts and white clothes. Do NOT use fabric softener or dry them. You’re going to want to make sure the items are damp.
Step 3: Wearing the gloves, add dye to your bottle, add hot water, and fill to the neck. Place the cap on, shake until all dye is dissolved. Using full strength will intensify colors. You can add water to make pastel colors or mix shades during this step.
Step 4: Use the swirl, crumple, or bullseye method on your shirt. Secure with rubber bands to keep clothing nice and tight. Apply dye on fabric, checking to make sure dye has penetrated folds. If dyes are applied too close, the colors may become muddy. If that’s the look you’re going for, go for it!
Step 5: Cover dyed fabric with plastic wrap to keep damp. Let it sit for 6-8 hours. I prefer 24 hours. The colors will be vibrant and intense, the longer they sit.
After that, rinse until the water runs clear—cut rubber bands. Wash clothes with the hottest water suitable for fabric and use a small amount of laundry soap: Wash and dry clothes separately for the first few times.
Reverse Tie Dye Method T-Shirts
Step 1: Cover your work area with a plastic tablecloth or trash bags-I cut a few trash bags and placed them on the table.
Step 2: Pre-wash the fabric-This is an essential step if you want your colors to be vibrant on t-shirts and white clothes. Do NOT use fabric softener or dry them. Make sure the items are damp. Dying dry clothing won’t take the color as well as it does damp on t-shirts.
*If using the powdered dye: use 2 tablespoons or cut that in half to make lighter pastel colors.
~If you have a shirt with a logo, face your shirt with the logo facing down. Make sure your shirt is damp.
Step 3-Do the spiral, swirl, or crumple method on the damp shirt. Whenever trying any of these methods, you want to make sure the shirt is nice and tight. Then wrap up with rubber bands. You can add as many rubber bands as needed to keep it tight.
Step 4-Add a splash of Clorox to your plastic bin. Take the shirt and lay it down in the bleach, so it absorbs the Clorox. Turn the shirt over, and do the same thing on the other side. If some areas are still black, dip your glove (finger) or a brush in the bleach and rub the black areas with bleach. The shirt will immediately start to turn a different color.
Step 5-Let the shirt sit for a bit; WASH THE SHIRT in the washer (crucial step).
After washing it, re-swirl, crumple, or spiral again. Rubber band it nice and tight, and then begin dying the shirt with your colors. If you don’t want to re swirl, you can always add the dye to the bleached areas.
If you don’t wash your shirt before adding the colors, the colors won’t take because the bleach will eat at them.
Step 6-Let it sit for about 30 minutes with your dye, then cut the bands off. If your shirt has a logo, this is the time you want to get a rag and clean the logo area. You want to clean the logo as soon as possible, so it’s easy to wipe any excess off. If you let the dye sit on the logo, it will seep in.
Step 7-Wash the t shirt again using hot water and little laundry soap.
~After washing it, if you don’t like the colors, you can always recolor. Use a small brush, dip (dry brush) in the powdered colors, and buff the damp shirt colors. That will brighten up the colors and can bring new colors out on the shirt. That’s the benefit of using the powdered dye; you can’t do that with a liquid dye. If you add more coloring, let it sit for another 30 minutes, then wash again with hot water and laundry soap.
Reverse Tie-Dye Method on Sweatshirts
~On dark sweatshirts and sweatpants, you want to make sure the material is completely DRY.
~For the sweatshirt or pants. You’re going to follow the same method except you want to make sure the clothes are 100% dry, with no moisture whatsoever.
Step 1-With the dry clothes, swirl, spiral, or crumple it up, rubber band it nice and tight.
Step 2-Dip into bleach. Pick up and let the bleach drip off. Let it drain for 30-40 seconds. Then flip over and do the same thing on the other side, again letting the bleach drip off so it won’t seep into the folds.
~dip your glove (finger) in the bleach and use your fingers to paint it where the black still shows. You want to do one side at a time. Let it sit for a bit.
Step 3–Wash/Rinse the clothing with hot water (no soap or detergent). Once you take out of the washer, still damp, fill in the bleached areas with color. Leave in color for 24 hours so it will absorb the color. Wash with a little bit of laundry soap and dry.
Voila! You made yourself some pretty cool looking pieces! Here are the results for the reverse tie-dyed shirts. I’m so happy how they all turned out.
