I am back today to give you a little tutorial on tie dyeing clothes. Over the Easter, I've had some free time (even though the Junior Cert is less than a month away, haha) and after seeing a Youtuber post a tutorial on tie dyeing, decided to give it a go myself. It really is so simple, but you need to make sure you have the right requirements to make it work.
I used all Dylon products here, and I suggest you use the Dylon dyes too because they really are the best. I picked up two colours for my tie dye- violet and green. The dyes come in little sachets and are sold separately, unless you want to buy a box of different dyes. Each little sachet costs around 2-3e, and I bought mine in the chemist's. They are available in lots of different places, and in a huge variety of colours. If you want a specific shade, make sure to check the Dylon website and pre-order it where you can, which is what I did.
2.Dye Salt
This is the thing that does all the magic. It lets the dye absorb into the clothing, and you will be lost without it. You can use ordinary table salt if you wish, the Dylon dye salt is just non-edible salt and it's much cheaper.
3. Colour+Fabric of the Clothing you wish to dye
This is super important. The lighter the item you wish to dye is, the better the colours will show up. Colour mixing rules also apply, so if you dye a yellow t shirt blue, the result will be green. Make sure your clothing isn't made of nylon or polyester- plastics don't dye. If it is of natural fabrics, eg cotton, wool or linen, it is the most suitable. The t shirt I dyed was white, and 100% cotton, so I was in luck.
Above are all the basics you're going to need- you will need a few other tools you'll find around the house too.
You will also need 2 empty water bottles with a narrow/squeezy top, as this will make applying the dye easier. 2 rubber bands will hold your t shirt in shape when it's all twisted, and you will need some gloves too, to prevent multi coloured hands when you're done.
Next, get all your dyes ready. Put the kettle on and measure out 100ml of boiling water into each bottle. Then, measure out 400ml cold tap water and add this to each bottle, so you have 500ml warm water in each bottle. Take your dyes and with gloves on, carefully transfer the contents of each dye into each bottle, you can even use a funnel if you wish. For the dye salt, I stuck to 2 tablespoons of dye salt per bottle. Screw on the tops of the bottles, and give them a good shake to mix.
Then, take your t shirt and throw it on the grass outside, as this part will get the surroundings dyed. Squeeze each bottle on to the t shirt, and turn it over to make sure it's evenly dyed. Leave the t shirt in a plastic container for 4- 24 hours, the longer, the better. Wash out excess dye under the tap and when the water runs clear, throw your t shirt into the washing machine on its own. Then simply take it out, dry it, and you're done!
The above was my result. Because of the way I twisted the t shirt, I got a pretty swirly pattern, but there is other ways you can do it as well. I did put a sachet of dye into each bottle, and this must have been a bit too much, as I had some remaining dye floating on top, unmixed, which explains some very vibrant dots on the t shirt, but they're barley noticeable.
All in all, it's a really cool thing to do as you will have a unique, one of a kind t shirt! The results are never the same, and you can use the same amounts for a few t shirts as well, as there is a lot of dye left if you're only dyeing one piece of clothing (I poured mine out at the bottom of the garden, haha). I hope my explanations were clear enough, if not, please dont hesitate to comment with questions! The dye does wash out so your colours do fade after you wash them in the washing machine, so don't panic. I would recommend to wash the clothing you dyed on it's own as well, to prevent staining other clothes.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and good luck if you are giving this a go!
My Twitter- @gabysayshey
Gaby x
