How to Tie Dye Clothing

Tie-dyed clothing is vibrant, expressive and an absolute blast to make. It draws upon memories of idealism, peace and a belief in change since it first made its mark on American fashion with the hippie movement. Get your creative juices flowing, and learn how to make your very own awesome tie-dye projects. It is a current fashion fad, and it is also timeless. Enjoy this journey.

Things You'll Need

• White T-Shirt
• Rubber Bands
• Fuchsia Dye
• Turquoise Dye
• Yellow Dye
• Bucket
• Rubber Gloves
• 1 cup Soda Ash
• Sheets of Plastic (or Garbage Bags)
• Paper Towels

Instructions

1. Protect your workspace. Spread sheets of plastic out on a table. Keep paper towels handy to soak up any excess dye. Wear a smock, apron or clothes that you don't mind getting dirty.

2. Wet your t-shirt, and wring out excess water. Bunch your t-shirt into a ball shape. Wrap rubber bands around the ball haphazardly. Make sure that the shirt keeps its round shape.

3. Fill the bucket with two gallons hot tap water. Mix in 1 cup soda ash, and stir until dissolved. Soak the bound t-shirt in the soda ash water for at least a half an hour. After a half an hour or more, remove shirt. Wring out excess water.

4. Put on your rubber gloves and dye shirt by squirting dye between bound sections. Squeeze gently to saturate dyed areas. Be sure to rinse gloves, and use paper towels to clean up your workspace before switching between dye colors.

5. Wrap bundled shirt in plastic, and let sit undisturbed for twenty-four hours while the dye bonds with shirt fibers.

6. Unwrap your shirt after twenty-four hours, and rinse the shirt under warm running tap water until the water runs fairly clear. Remove the rubber bands.

7. Machine wash in warm water on regular wash cycle with detergent. Afterwards you can machine or line dry your shirt. Now that the dye is set, you should be able to wash your tie-dyed shirt with like colors in loads of your regular laundry. Enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• Soda ash--or sodium carbonate--can be found in the laundry detergent section of your local grocery store.

• This process can be repeated with any article of clothing. If tie-dying heavy materials such as denim, you may want to bind your project with string rather than rubber bands.

• Don't attempt to do this project without proper advance planning. Not having an ingredient mid-process can spell disaster.