Tuesday, September 22, 2009

easy (and cheap) tie dye

Did all of you see the fabulous dollar store tie dye post on Make and Takes a while back? If you happened to miss it, click here to check it out. As soon as I saw the idea I was pumped. I knew my boys would love to try their hand at making their own tie dyed shirts and I also knew it would be a fun, cheap craft that we could do together. Winning idea all around!

Following the simple instructions posted at Make and Takes, my boys were really excited to make their shirts. I found these plain white shirts at Walmart for $2! After pulling out my very large stash of tissue paper, pouring vinegar into an empty (but clean) cleanser bottle, and covering my table with garbage bags....we were ready to start!



I gave my boys some scissors and let them have at it. They chose various colors of tissue and cut it into all different shapes and sizes. They had fun positioning them on their shirts.



After they had covered their shirts, I sprayed vinegar all over the tissue paper. More is better in this situation because you really want to make sure all of the tissue paper is wet.



We then let the shirts sit out and soak up the vinegar over night. When the vinegar was dry in the morning we peeled off the tissue paper and dried the shirts in the dryer to set the dye. The color comes out very pale, but my boys were thrilled with the results. It was such a cheap craft and they were so proud of themselves for making their own designs!

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15 Comments

15 Responses to “easy (and cheap) tie dye”

Diana said...

Wow!! Sure is easy!! Great work guys!!

CourtneyKeb said...

I'd almost rather that pale tie dye look than the sometimes obnoxious blinding colors. Super cute!

Bev @ The 3 Clutters said...

Very cute...and cheap!!! Awesome craft for all ages.

Martha said...

What an excellent idea! I will have to try this with my daughter, she is 6 and sure to love it!

Jodieth said...

Thank you so much for this link and idea with you children. I have two grandsons and am keeping a file of ideas for "Buttons and Dodaws" summer camp with them. This is great!

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

Yay! Glad my project worked for you!! It really is a great activity for kiddos!

Heather

Lawanna said...

What a great idea! I haven't ever been very good a tie-tye, but I think I can do this. Did you have to treat the shirts with anything afterwards? Or laundry separately?

Thanks again!

Little Birdie Secrets said...

I didn't have to treat the shirts with anything. After we sprayed them with vinegar, we just let them dry completely. Then I dried them in the dryer. I didn't have anything else in there with them.

Tiffany said...

This is my version of tie dye! Thanks! The other version freaks me out a bit!

Caeseria said...

So is the color pretty permanent? I would LOVE to do that sometime! I babysit a sixth grade girl who needs entertaining. :)

sallgood said...

Fun on shirts! I've used this technique on paper, using plain water. The paper then makes a good background for faces, landscapes, etc. I had elementary artists use this for portraits- draw the face in pencil, place the tissue with that in mind, and then go over the lines with sharpie. Oh, it would be fun on fabric squares to make a simple quilt too!!(Thanks for the inspiration!!)

PrairiePeasant said...

Cool idea. Thanks for sharing!

Little Birdie Secrets said...

The color is pretty permanent as far as I can tell. I have washed ours several times and they look the same as they first did.

Valerie said...

I have done that on paper, but never thought about doing it on fabric. Fun idea for the kids!

Samantha said...

Did you use the non-bleed tissue or the kind that is supposed to bleed? All tissue paper used to bleed colors, I think, but then they started making it non-bleed. So now you have to look for the kind of tissue that the colors will bleed when you do something like this. Usually you can find it at craft/hobby type stores in the art department. But the average tissue paper that you find is the non-bleed kind. Just a thought...you might get brighter colors that way.

I love the idea! I think we're going to have to try it.

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