How to Tie Dye

Are you bored of wearing the same white tee-shirt / shirt over and over again? If yes, then give it a funky appearance by dyeing the shirt / tee shirt in bright eye-catching patterns and designs through the tie n dye technique. In fact, the tie and dye process can be used to give a makeover to a wide-variety of white or light hued fabrics and even readymade garments. So, do not be afraid while picking a white the next time you go for shopping. Just wear it till it retains its shine and whiteness. When both are gone and the shirt becomes paler and dull, just dip it in a bucket of dye. There you go - a brand new tee without spending a fortune!! In the following lines, we have listed the complete tie and dye technique to make your pale white t-shirt bright and funky. Read through the instructions carefully to get the best result.

Tie-Dye Instructions & Techniques

You need to first select the shirt that is fit for dyeing. If this is your first experience, go for a pale white old tee that you haven’t been wearing much lately. This way, you wouldn’t be much disappointed, if the Next, you need to buy a dye kit that has your favorite colors. These days, there are a lot of kits in the market, which include rubber gloves, rubber bands, soda ash and urea.
In case a readymade dye kit is not available, do not fret. Just get a dye, rubber bands, rubber gloves, squeeze bottles for the dye, urea and some soda ash.
The next step would be to soak the shirt in a bucket of warm water and soda ash for about 10 minutes. This step is important as it would enable the dye to bond with the shirt.
After about 10 minutes, wrung the shirt. You can either do it by hand, with the help of your friend or let the washing machine do it for you. Once wrung, place the shirt on a flat surface, with the right side down.
Take a dowel rod in the center and start turning it clockwise until you have a nice flat pie shape.
At the time of moving the rod clockwise, use your other hand not to let the shirt creep up to the rod.
Now, just remove the dowel and put on the rubber bands, without disturbing the shape of the shirt at all. This is one of the most crucial steps. Remember, a sloppy tie would result in a messy dye.
Slip in the rubber band in the current position of the shirt. Once this is done, turn the shirt and put some more rubber bands.
Now, at the time of dyeing, place the shirt over paper towel, to avoid any stain. Use only three colors, fuschia red, turquoise and lemon yellow.
Working from the centre of the shirt and holding the bottle low over the shirt, dye one third of the shirt lemon yellow. Dye the second-third in fuschia red and the final third in turquoise. Do not leave any white spaces. Check for white hiding within the folds!
Once the first side is done, turn over the shirt and apply the dye on the second side, in a similar manner. In case you want to go for a similar print at the back side as well, make sure that the color used on the sides are same, i.e. red behind red, blue behind blue and so on.
Once you have finished dyeing, place the shirt in a zip lock and seal the bag. Put the bag in a warm place and just forget it, as you have to leave it for 24 hours.
After a day, unwrap the masterpiece, but make sure you are wearing rubber/latex gloves! Keep the shirt under a cold water tap, or just run under the tap for a while. The excess dye would flow out. Keep rinsing until the water runs clear. Now, dry the shirt outside.
This is it - the pale white shirt that you once lamented about has changed to a colorful shirt that you can gloat about!!

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