Creative Concoctions

It's my first week of summer break from my job at the Middle school. Because my kids are still in school, I thought it would be the perfect week to catch up on my projects. One unfinished project involved left-over dyes that had been sitting in the fridge for weeks after a YW tie-dye project. I had determined to put them to use on some originally white t-shirts that had become more greyish tan, having been through a few too many mud baths. This project was actually to be a sort of experiment, to see if the shirts could be resurrected to new life with dye. So my two youngest daughters (6 and 12) and I set to work to make 10 new shirts out of old ones. I found 6 old, white 100% cotton shirts at home, and I found 4 plain, white, 100% cotton, kids' shirts at D.I. for $1 each!

For those of you who ever want to attempt tie-dye, I will show you how we did it. The first thing you need to know is that 100% cotton fiber is key for the dye to take well. Remember that. You can dye any article of clothing or sheets or fabric, but the colors stay best on fabric that contains 100% cotton. The next thing you need to know is that dye stains EVERYTHING it touches. So, if you do NOT want blue hands, wear rubber gloves! And if you don't want your table or deck pink and green, lay down plastic with newspapers on top to absorb the excess dye. One year we did this on a table on the grass, and somehow the dye got on the grass, then onto kids' feet... we had a purple-footed Isaac for weeks! I learned from that to make sure I have plenty of newspaper under the work surface to soak up the dye so that I can just throw it in the trash when we are done. This time, instead of a table, we just used newspaper on top of the grass. It worked fine. No plastic needed. And we had no purple feet, either, because I was more careful about where the dye went.

There are many different dyes to choose from, but I have found the best success with fiber reactive Dharma Dyes, which are sold at dharmatrading.com . follow the link for tie-dye and building your own tie-dye kit. There are so many colors to choose from, but remember that the primary colors for dye are Bright Yellow, Fuscia, and Turquoise. This means that you can make other colors by mixing these dyes. Years ago, I purchased the chemicals, 10 different colors of dyes, and the squeeze bottles to dye 37 shirts for a family reunion. I am still using those same dyes--50 shirts later! They come in powder form and it takes a while to mix them because you have to measure and add some chemicals. I learned the techniques from Dharma Trading Company. They have a wealth of information and were kind enough to answer my emails and give me personal feedback and instruction for my first big project. (I think they could tell I was a little stressed and needed some extra TLC.) Here are their instructions.

To begin, mix the dyes the night before. This takes a while, especially if you have several different colors, so give yourself an hour or two. It is good to prepare them ahead so you don't feel rushed. Just store them in a refrigerator or other cool place until you are ready to use them. Basically, the mix consists of water, the dye--according to proportions specified on the label, water-softener chemical (if you have hard water, which I do), and Urea--which is a dissolving agent and helps the fabric stay wet longer while you apply the dyes. You actually dissolve 1 Tablespoon Urea and 1 Tablespoon water softener in 1 cup of warm water first, then add the dye. Most dyes require 2 teaspoons per cup of water, but some require 4 or more teaspoons per cup to get the right hue. Always check the label. Another chemical you will need to use is soda ash. You will mix the soda ash in warm water just before you apply the dyes and you will soak the shirts in that "bath" for a few minutes before applying the dye. Soda ash is a mild alkaline that is a key to "fastening" or holding the dyes to the cellular fibers in the shirt, making brilliant, non-fading colors.

Now to begin preparing the shirts, first check the techniques for the design you want... or just start tying and let the end result be a surprise. My favorite designs are the "sunburst," in which the colors radiate in circles out from the center, and the "spiral," where the center of the shirt seems to spin. To tie a sunburst, you grab the spot you want to be the center of the design and pull it up, securing it with a rubber band or yarn. Then you continue wrapping the shirt into one long snake. You can make a different color of sunburst on the back if you separate the layers and pull both directions out and then scrunch and tie the middle. Otherwise, you will just have the same sunburst design on front and back. You will be applying dyes in stripes from one end to the other. I prefer using yarn for this design because I can just scrunch the shirt and wrap the yarn around it quickly from top to bottom, and the dye seeps through the yarn.

The spiral design requires a flat surface and a twist, and rubber-bands. You will put your fingers on the shirt where you want the middle of the spiral to be and then twist in one direction until the shirt is in a small circle around your fingers. Then secure this shape with rubber-bands. You will be applying the dye in pie-shaped sections, on the front and back of that circle, to get the spiral design right. For these shirts, I used the primary colors, Yellow, Fuscia, and Turquoise, and some Bright Green. You can see from these pictures how the scrunched up, saturated in dye blob turns magically into a striped spiral t-shirt.
Make sure you wear rubber gloves when applying the dye and have newspaper directly under your working space. It is very helpful to have the squeeze bottles for applying the dyes. I try to cover all the surface I can see with dye because there usually ends up being more white spaces than I expect because of all the creases in the shirt. Sometimes I even squeeze dye between the creases to get it nice and deep in the folds of the shirt.

As soon as you have "fixed" or applied the dye, you need to put the shirt in a plastic bag to let the dyes settle in overnight. I used plastic grocery bags and just tied them up and put them in a bucket in case any dye leaked out. You could also use ziploc bags. It is best to let the shirts sit in the bags for 24 hours in order to "set" the dye.

After that, it is time to rinse. Put on your rubber gloves again, take a shirt out of the bag, and hold it under cold, running water. You will likely splash dyes around, so you may want to use a utility sink or a hose outside. As the water is running over the shirt, untie it, and continue to rinse until the water runs clear. Then you will toss your shirt(s) into your washing machine, add a special dye-free, bleach-free detergent, such as Mela-Power (from Melaleuca.com) or the textile detergent that Dharma Trading Company sells, and run the washer on warm/cold. When the wash cycle is done, hang the shirts up to dry. After that, you can wash these shirts with any load and they will NOT bleed, so you won't have to worry about pink socks--at least with these shirts. :) And rest assured that if your little one winds up in a rain storm with one of these tie-dyed shirts on, his back won't turn blue! :) That makes for happy Moms.

If you have any questions, please comment below or email me @ wendeelu@gmail.com I would be happy to help you through your next project.

I was especially pleased with the outcome of my experiment to "resurrect" some dirty shirts. You be the judge: