How To Create Awesome Tie Dye T Shirts

Summer is the perfect time to enjoy arts & crafts outdoors. Theres nothing better than to be 

outside on a beautiful sunny day, making something creative while at the same time 

keeping the mess out of the house! My boyfriend Duane is a tie dye pro, so when he 

suggested we get some supplies and plan a day to make our own tie dyed shirts, I couldnt 

have been more thrilled. Yay! Sunshine and art and kids and fun!

Collecting our supplies...

First we looked at thrift stores for t-shirts and other things that we might want to dye. I was 

looking for a white cotton Boho style skirt. I didnt find one there, but I did find a 

Philadelphia Phillies t-shirt for $1. Score! Next we bought a few 100 percent cotton t-shirts 

at our local crafts shop for around $3 each, and a few white cotton bandannas.  
I also found a lace-edged tank top and a nice silky v-neck top at Target that 
I added to my "to-dye" stash, so I would have a little variety in my styles of tie dyed shirts. 

For dyes, we bought a multi-pack that contained 12 plastic bottles that already had the dyes

in powdered form inside of each bottle. Since there were going to be five of us making 

shirts (us along with our kids), we figured the big set with 12 colors was the way to go. The 

dye kit contained 12 plastic bottles with one color of powdered dye already in each bottle, so 

all we had to do was add water to the bottles and shake them up. The kit came with 

a plastic table cover, but you can use any kind of plastic drop cloth or old plastic tablecloth 

to protect your work space. The kit also contained a few pairs of plastic gloves, rubber bands 

to "tie" our shirts up with, and some general instructions for how to prepare the dyes and 

make a few different designs. We purchased a box of soda ash mix separately (in the craft 

store where the tie dyes are located) and used our own plastic bucket to mix that up 

according to the package directions. The first thing we did before we started was soak all of 

our t-shirts in the soda ash and water mix for 20 minutes. The soda ash helps the dye 

adhere to the shirt better and is supposed to help the dyes stay nice and bright. Check it out! 

 Soaking our shirts in soda ash and water - we had a lot of shirts and they soaked up all

of the water! We actually had to use two separate buckets. Next time if we again dye
a lot of shirts, we will have to use two boxes of soda ash.

Our work surface, an outdoor table covered with a plastic table cover, gloves,

and our directions.

Each bottle contained powdered dye in a squirt bottle. All we had to do was measure water 
and add it to each dye bottle, and then shake them up until all of the dyes were dissolved. 
Easy!

Duane shows how two spiral designs are created. He pinched the material in two places

with his thumbs and index fingers, and then twisted the material...

...and kept twisting until the material by turning his fingers until the material was all  bunched up...

...and then he secured it or "tied" it, with rubber bands to keep the material bunched up.

Next comes the dye! You just squeeze it from the squirt bottle onto the fabric, saturating

the fabric. Once we had the dyes on, we set them aside on the grass for a couple of hours

so that the dye could soak into the fabric and really permeate it. If you look closely at this

photo you can see how his two spirals look like circles.  You apply the dye in a wedge shape

or in a line through the perimeter of the spirals or "circles" to achieve the finished spiral tie 

dye design (see below).

The end result!

To do a striped dye design with vertical or horizontal stripes, this bandanna was 

folded lengthwise in an accordion or fan fold technique...

...and then she applied her chosen dye colors, one next to the other. Dont forget to wear gloves! 

The end result

This shirt was made with same pattern technique.

Sorry for the blurry photo! This random dot shirt turned out great! To make this,

she just applied random drops of dye to the shirt and then laid it flat - no tying!

After a sitting for a while, the dye spreads out and blossoms.

The end result! 

Deciding what colors to choose...there are so many possible combinations!

A t-shirt twisted into a spiral, ready to be tied with rubber bands and dyed!

Tying the t-shirt up with rubber bands before applying dyes. You dont have to tie the shirts

with rubber bands, but they will help the shirt to keep its shape. 

Duanes shirt...he used green and blue and applied them in a wedge shape,

 and then added a little yellow and just a couple drops of purple...wait till you see this one...

Awesome! To create this design, he twisted one spiral, beginning in the center

of the shirt.

We laid our shirts on the grass to give the dye some time to seep in and works its magic. 

After an hour or two, we removed the rubber bands, opened up the shirts, and then laid