We have another outdoor craft for the whole family – tie dye! Tie dye is a great outdoor activity, especially in the summer. The bright colors and patterns of tie dye seem to exude that summertime feeling.

Tie dye is a messy project so taking it outside is a great idea. More time outside means less mess inside! There are many ways to tie dye, but we are going to use the crinkle or scrunch method. You can tie dye t-shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, socks or whatever you’d like using this step-by-step guide.

Let’s start with what you need:

·      100% cotton t-shirt in white or another light color. We are using our Hiking Bear Tee, which is a light tan.

·      Dye in the color(s) of your choice. We are using Tulip’s One-Step Tie-Dye Kit 3 Color Kit in their Wildflower color combo and plan to use only the green for this particular project.

·      Rubber bands

·      Water (hose or sink access)

·      Gallon size sealable bags

·      Large garbage bags or disposable tablecloth (this is used to protect your work surface)

·      Latex or rubber gloves

·      Drying rack

·      Paper towels

Quick Tip: It is important to make sure the items you’re tie dying are 100% cotton for the best results. You will need at least 60% cotton for the dye to take to the fabric, but 100% cotton is the best.

Before starting your tie dye find a good spot where you can make a mess. We usually choose our garage or outside in the backyard. The dye will stain surfaces, your clothes, and even your hands so keep that in mind when selecting your workspace. Also, be sure to dress for a mess! The dye may splatter so be sure you’re not wearing your favorite shirt while tie dying.

Let’s get started! Here are step-by-step instructions for easy tie dye.

Quick Tip: Depending on the age of your kids, consider having them join the process at Step #7. Doing the prep work in Steps #1-6 makes the project go faster and keeps young children with shorter attention spans engaged. When doing tie dye the first time my kids were 3-yrs and 5-yrs and had very little patience for the soaking and scrunching of each clothing item.

1.        Layout your plastic bag or tablecloth. I usually layout one plastic bag per person so everyone has an individual workspace.

2.      Wet your shirt in water. You want to ensure the entire shirt gets wet. Then ring or squeeze out any excess water.

3.      Time to crinkle and scrunch! We are using a crinkle or scrunch method (rather than a spiral or other techniques). Lay your item flat onto the plastic surface and scrunch it from the outside. Scrunch it all together forming circle.

4.      Once it is scrunched up, start to take rubber bands to secure it. Wrap the rubber bands around your shirt to keep it tightly scrunched together. I crisscross the rubber bands until I form a circular shape. The goal is to secure the crinkled shirt tightly so you can pick up it up without pieces falling out or moving.

5.      When it’s fully secured, check both the top and bottom to ensure they are scrunched and look similar. This will help to ensure the front and back of your shirt have a consistent tie dye pattern and look cohesive.

6.      Next, mix up your dye. This is when I put on my latex gloves. Grab the color(s) you want to use and follow the packaging instructions for the dye. For the kit I’m using, you add water to the prepackaged powder. It’s important to make sure the powder is fully dissolved for consistent color.

Quick Tip: If you want more muted colors dilute your dye with more water. In our case we would pour some of the mixed dye into another empty bottle, add more water to the original dye bottle and shake to mix. You can test out your color on paper towels to get a sense of the depth of color.

7.        Now for the fun part! When your dye is ready, squirt it all over the shirt and even into some of folded crevasses. If using multiple colors, try not to overlap the color, but color different areas of the shirt with the colors like patchwork. You want to cover the shirt in dye leaving little or no bare fabric showing.

8.      After one side is dyed, flip over the shirt to make sure that there are no undyed spots.

9.      Once you’re done with the dye, you can use a cookie drying rack to let some of the excess dye drip off. Then place your shirt in a resealable plastic bag. This is where you will store your shirt for up to 24 hours to let your color set. The longer you leave your shirt to set, the darker and more saturated the color will be. Muted, lighter colors likely only need 8 hours to set.  Bright, saturated colors need closer to the full 24 hours. For this project we let our shirt sit for the full 24 hours.

10.      Clean up your workspace.

11.      When at least 8 hours have passed, grab your latex gloves and packaged shirt to wash out the color. Using the sink or hose, leave the shirt in the rubber bands and run COLD water over/through it until the water from the shirt runs clear.

12.      Then take off the rubber bands and continue to rinse the shirt until the water runs clear and no excess dye is washing out of the shirt.

13.       Next, throw your new tie dye shirt into the washing machine. I do a “quick wash” on cold (no detergent) to ensure all the dye gets rinsed out. We suggest washing each item separately to ensure the colors don’t run between items. (Note: I have washed multiple kids tees together and it worked out fine, but combine your wash at your work risk!)

14.     Dry your shirt and it’s ready to wear!

Check out our results! What do you think? Will you give tie dye a try?

We hope these instructions are helpful and inspire you to try some tie dye in your backyard. Fresh air and art are always a fun and creative combination. If you give tie dye a try, please tag us on Facebook or Instagram so we can see your results.

As always, we hope to see you outside!