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Totally Terrific Tie Dye Projects

Written by Kelly Tenny  |  20. July 2014

I’m sure most people remember tie dyeing a t-shirt for the first time, in summer camp or in preparation for a school field day. It was always so much fun to see what kind of unique, colorful, and one of a kind, design would appear on the shirt as your unraveled it. Nowadays we have progressed from t-shirts and there are many and more ways to tie dye different wearable and unwearable things you may have simply lying around the house.

An awesome aspect to tie dye is the various methods in which you can tie die your item. Depending on how you want your design to look or where you want your colors to fall you can pick and choose a tie dye method that works best for your project.

Now, before you start tie dyeing everything in sight, head out to your local craft store to purchase a tie dye kit, that way you will have a variety of colors to choose from and the tools you need to complete the craft, like gloves to keep clean and rubber bands to section off the color. Make sure to cover the area where you will be tie dyeing with plastic or plenty of newspapers to keep from creating a big mess.

Pillow Case: Grab an old, white pillow case and fold it long ways, from bottom to top, the same way you would fold a paper fan. Use 6 rubber bands, 3 on the right end and 3 on the left end, about an inch or so apart from one another, leaving the middle area band less. Apply your choice of color dye to the areas between the rubber bands, so you should have 6 sections of color.

Let sit in a plastic bag for 6-8 hours, or overnight for darker color. Once the pillow case is dry wash it in the washing machine by itself. Now you have your own tie dye pillow case!

Shoelaces: Cute tie dye shoelaces will really make your sneakers pop! Start by folding your shoelaces in half once and laying them out on plastic. Take your dye and add different color dyes to the shoelaces, lighter colors first, going across in a striped manner.

Add as many colors as you want then let them sit for a half day to a day. Rinse in cold water in the sink until the colors stop running them wash them in the dryer in a cloth bag or pillow case to keep the laces from tangling.

Denim Shorts: First you need to bleach your shorts so you have a nice palette to work with. While using gloves, add bleach to a bucket then put your denim shorts in there until bleached white. Soak them in the sink for a few hours to get rid of the bleach and the smell then let them dry out in the sun.

Once they are about ¾ dry it’s time to start dyeing. Grab the colors you want and add color in strips starting from the bottom up to the waist of the shorts, lighter colors in the middle strips. Flip over and do this to the back also, you’ll see some of your dye coming through from the other side. Leave the shorts to dry outside for about 24 hours then rinse them and put them in the wash on the hottest water setting.

Scarf: Use a white scarf and small rubber bands to band off little sections on your scarf, as if you were putting very little bits of hair in a tie. Try to make about 10-12 sections of banded off areas equal distance apart. Once banded, rinse the scarf in cold water.

Boil water in a large pot (about 75% filled with water) add in the dye then once boiling place in your scarf. Boil, stirring every 15 minutes, for about an hour then remove from heat and let it cool off. Rinse in cold water after to remove excess dye then take off the rubber bands to see your cool, spotted, tie dye design!

What are some other things you have lying around the house that you’d like to tie dye?

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