How to Tie Dye Material

You can tie dye most natural materials at home.

Multi-colored clothing in crazy designs came into style during the 1960s and is still a strong fashion statement. These designs are fun and easy to do right in your own home. Craft and fabric stores have ready-to-use kits that make it super easy to tie dye material. Cotton or natural fabrics are the best-suited materials to dye in this manner. Tie dying your material disperses dye unevenly on a piece of fabric, creating eye-catching and sometimes outlandish designs.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic covering
• Tie dye kit
• Cotton material
• Rubber bands
• Rubber gloves
• 2-gallon plastic tub
• Dye fixer or soda ash
• Water
• Plastic squeeze bottles
• Damp rags

Instructions

1. Prepare a workspace by placing a sheet of plastic over a flat surface. Painter plastic covering works well.

2. Wash the material. Clean fabric absorbs dye easier than unwashed material.

3. Tie the material and lay it on a flat surface. Fold it into horizontal pleats and tie closed with rubber bands. Space the rubber bands apart and place at least three around sections of the article.

4. Put on rubber gloves. Fill a tub with 1 gallon water and 1 cup dye fixer or soda ash. Place the material inside the tub to soak for 15 minutes.

5. Pour the pre-mixed dye into plastic squeeze bottles. Tie dye kits generally come with two to four colors.

6. Remove the fabric from the tub of water and dye fixer. Lay the material on the plastic-covered work surface. Keep damp rags near in case the dye gets on your skin.

7. Drip dye over the pleated, wet article. Move the plastic bottles over the material and disperse the colors thoroughly to create your desired design.

8. Leave the material alone for two hours for the dye to react with the dye fixer. It needs to stay damp during this process. You can place the material in a plastic bag to trap in moisture.

9. Rinse the material in cold water. Wash in the washing machine in cold water, and then two more times in hot water. The second and third washings in hot water will get rid of any unreacted dye.

Tips & Warnings

• Creating horizontal pleats when you tie material makes vertical stripes. Conversely, creating vertical pleats when you tie makes horizontal stripes of color.

• You can scrunch the material together and secure with rubber bands for uneven tie dye color all over the material.

• Wash the article separately for several washes to ensure the color does not affect other materials.

References

• Paula Burch; All About Hand Dying; Hand Dying, How to Do It; May 5, 2011