Saturday, June 21, 2014

Patriotic Tie-Dye Shirt

Hello, Friends!  Marilyn here with a fun and messy project... tie dye shirts.

Patriotic Tie-Dye Shirt

What is Needed:

  • White T-Shirt
  • Tie-Dye Kit (found at Walmart)
  • Sink and Water
  • Washing Machine

I purchased this red and blue tie-dye kit at Walmart.  It came with the mixing bottles (dye was already in the bottle), rubber bands and plastic gloves.  The kit also comes with instructions and examples on different types of shirts to make.  This is a mini kit and there is enough dye to make 3 projects.

Tie-Dye Kit purchased at Walmart

Step 1:  Determine what type of design you want.  I'm hoping for blue on top and red on bottom that will be patriotic looking when complete.  Scrunch your t-shirt and add rubber bands.   When completed, the parts with rubber bands will be white.  The exposed portion will receive the dye.

Scrunching and adding rubber bands
Step 2:  Fill the bottles with water up to the fill line and shake.  Put on gloves.  Get your shirt wet and hand-wring dry.

Adding blue dye to top portion of wet shirt
Step 3:  Apply dye to shirt.  I'm added blue to top and red to bottom.  I noticed that the colors contaminate each other.  They can't seem to help dripping and puddling up in the same sink.   BTW - excuse the dishes pilled in my sink!

Adding red dye to bottom portion of wet shirt
Step 4:  Put your dyed shirt into a plastic bag.  I'm using the sack the came home with me from Walmart.  The instructions say to let your shirt sit for 6 - 8 hours.  I let mine sit 12 hours since I was going for a red portion (and I'm thinking it could end up pink if I rinse too soon.)

Dyed shirt placed in plastic bag and left to sit for 6-8 hours
Step 5:  Rinse, Rinse, Wash, Wash, Dry.   Rinse in cold water in the washer with rubber bands still on. Remove rubber bands and rinse again.  Wash twice in hot water (and detergent).  Dry in dryer.

And here is the result.

Tie-Dye Shirt after all the rinsing and washing and drying.
I decided to add some stars to my shirt.  I purchased a star from the Silhouette store and sized at .80".  I made the image into a cut and print and printed out on Square 1 Iron-On.

Star was purchased from Silhouette store and sized to .80 inches.
Next I placed the stars randomly on the top portion of my shirt and heat pressed at 325 degrees for 4 seconds.

Stars on top portion of the shirt
That's it!  Thank you for visiting my blog today! ~ Marilyn