How to Fold the Shirts When You Tie Dye

Tie-dye is a process of dyeing a shirt that uses resist dyeing techniques to apply the colors. By folding the shirt in a pattern before applying the dye, you can prevent the dye from coloring the entire shirt, creating a pattern that follows the folds. A common pattern is the spiral, which you can create by wrapping your shirt around a single point, binding it and applying the dye. Once the dye dries you'll have created a colorful spiral on the surface of the shirt that resists fading during washing and lasts for years.

Things You'll Need

• Water
• Cotton shirt
• Wooden dowel
• Four rubber bands

Instructions

1. Wet the shirt completely and then wring it out, twisting the shirt until it's damp to the touch.

2. Spread the shirt out on a flat surface and place a wooden dowel on the shirt in the location that will serve as the center of your tie-dye spiral.

3. Wrap the shirt around the dowel, twisting it from the center outwards, bunching the shirt into folds. The folds will resemble pleats when forming. Continue wrapping the shirt around the dowel until it forms a single bundle with the dowel remaining at the center. Maintain an even speed when twisting to keep the folds a uniform size. The bundle will be about 3 inches in height and about 4 inches in diameter, in the form of a spiral.

4. Remove the dowel from the shirt bundle and bind the folds together with the four rubber bands. Place the rubber bands around the shirt evenly, crossing them in the center above the spiral so that they create sliced sections in the shirt resembling pizza slices.

Tips & Warnings

• You can alter the pattern of your spiral by changing the number of rubber bands used to bind the shirt.

References

• Jeremy's Tie-Dye Page: How to Tie-Dye
• Jacquard Project: Tie-Dye Spiral Shirt

Resources

• Tye Dye Everything!