How to Tie Dye Shirts
Tie dyeing is a technique of dyeing clothes with dyes of different colors to create designs and patterns on the clothes. This technique has been in practice for many years now and is also symbolic of the hippie culture. The designs and patterns are created by folding, pleating, crimping and tying the fabric in different ways. These are then tied with a string and the dye is then applied to the tied areas to create a specific pattern. The tie dye technique can be used to create unique tie dye clothing like tie dye t-shirts, tie dye shirts or even tie dye dresses.
It is essential that you choose natural fabrics for tie dyeing so as to obtain the best results. Synthetic fabrics do not accept the dye very well as compared to natural fabrics. Usually, 100% cotton or at least 60% cotton fabrics are recommended for tie dyeing purposes. A minimum of three colors are used for tie dyeing but you can also make use of more colors provided they complement each other well. So, now if you are wondering how to tie dye or if you are looking for tie dye instructions, here's a step-by-step tie dye instruction guide for your reference.
How to Tie Dye Instructions: How to Tie Dye a Shirt
Learning how to tie dye shirts with simple circle designs is the best way to begin for all those who are new to this technique. Before you can start with the process, you will need to choose a shirt that you want to tie dye and collect all the supplies required. If you find it difficult purchasing the supplies, you can purchase a home tie dyeing kit instead. Also, tie dyeing can be quite a messy affair, so choose a place where you can easily clean up the mess created. Tie dyeing can be done indoors as well as outdoors.
Supplies Needed
Plain white t-shirt or shirt
Fabric dyes
Soda ash
Strings and rubber bands
Latex hand gloves and apron
Salt
Water
Paper towels
Large buckets
Directions
Step 1: Wash and dry the shirt that you want to tie dye, a day prior itself. Make sure that it is free of dirt, stains, etc. Cover the area where you will work with newspapers or garbage bags.
Step 2: Put on the latex gloves and an apron. Mix a generous amount of soda ash and salt in a bucket of hot water and soak your shirt to be tied-dyed in it for around 10 minutes. This will help the shirt fabric to soak the dyes quickly and bond better. Remove the soaked fabric and squeeze out all the water. Make sure you wring the fabric thoroughly so that it becomes easier to dye it.
Step 3: Choose a tie dye pattern. To obtain the circles pattern, lay the shirt on a flat surface and pinch small amounts of the fabric. Tie the pinched fabric with a rubber band or a string into a knot. Repeat this to make knots all over the shirt at equal intervals.
Step 4: Prepare the dye in the large bucket as per the manufacturer's instructions. Now, soak the shirt into the dye for around an hour or so. You can soak it for some more time depending upon the intensity of the color that you want.
Step 5: Remove the shirt from the dye and rinse it under cool running water until the water runs clear. Leave the shirt to dry for a day before you can open up the strings and rubber bands. Your tie dyed shirt is ready!
The first few washes after tie dyeing clothes should be done in cool water with a mild detergent to avoid fading of the dye color. Once you learn how to make tie dye shirts well, you can experiment with the different techniques of tie dyeing on different clothes.
