DIY Time: Tie Dye

• I dilute the dye in this kit because I wanted a softer, more pastel color. For most of the colors I only used 1/3 of the dye then filled the bottle with water to dilute it. 
• The more you crinkle the piece of clothing, the more white there will be when you are done.
• Washing out the color before “setting” it will also dilute the color. 
• When using more than one color, start with small amounts of each color to see how they blend together. 
• If you are using more than one color and want certain sections of the item certain colors. Take note of where the sleeves, neck, top, bottom are.
• I laid out trash bags on the grass to work on.

Method

• Wet clothing and ring out excess water.
• “Crinkle method”. Lay your item flat. Then start gathering it up and wrinkling it together. You want to form lots of small, puckered up pieces. It will look wrinkly.
• Once the whole item is gathered together, start securing with lots of rubber bands. I’d use some to gather secure smaller sections and then big ones to hold it all together.
• Start spraying the shirt with dye. I would spray up close and far away to have some differentiation in colors (ex. lighter and darker pink).
• Make sure you spray all sides and spray into some of the crevices as well. (don’t spray in all the crevices because you want some white left). I even poured some dye into a few crevices.

• Once you are done adding color, put in a gallon ziploc bag to set.
• Let set for 5+ hours. The longer something sets, the darker the color will be. 
• Rinse out excess dye and then take off rubber bands and give a final rinse. 
• Dry in dryer on high heat to set. (I let the shirts first partially air dry to prevent bleeding and to keep the white sections white)
• For extra security iron clothing to set.