Fashion Fridays: Tie Dye For

Months ago a saw a post on A Fine Day for Sailing that I fell in love with. The outfit was so simple but so me, I loved the printed button up and got so excited when I realized that the shirt was tie dyed and thus something I could try to recreate!

First I had to gather my supplies. I bought Rit powder dye in Royal Blue from Joanne's and picked up the white button up for a few bucks at a thrift store. The jeans are old and faded but I love the fit so I decided to dye them too.

You will also need:
-A bucket to dye items in
-Rubber bands
-Plastic bags
-Gloves

I suggest you use gloves to avoid becoming a Smurf

If you use powder dye like I did, start boiling some water before you do anything else. While your water is boiling get your work station ready. Outside is best, but just make sure your area is clean and that only things you want dyed are near by. Dye tends to travel.

Dissolve your packet of dye in the hot water, less water = a more concentrated and darker color.

Now you need to pick out a tie dye pattern. Check out this great wikihow page for various tie dye patterns. I decided to just do a random pattern and just bunched up my shirt in a ball and added rubber bands. Than I dipped the entire shirt in the dye. The pants I just dunked in as well as I just wanted them darker, no pattern or rubber bands required.

After the fabric has soaked up the color, wrap your item in a plastic bag and set outside. The items won't necessarily dry in the bags but the heat and time will help the color set. I left my items out for several hours but there's no rule as to how long you need to leave them in plastic.

After I removed them from the plastic bags I let them hang dry to help the color set a little more before rinsing them out. Be advised, the color you see at first is not what you get. I washed my items in the washing machine which caused the color to dull, but will help it from washing out further in the future. I liked that the shirt was dulled as it made it less hippie/summer camp and more wearable. Also be sure to wash it separately or with dark colors as the dye will run with the first wash.

I had a lot of fun doing this project and there will definitely be more dyeing adventures for me in the future!

-K