Tie Dye: Reinvented

Ok, it's not really reinvented, it's just totally new to me. I bought these spray bottles of Tumble Dye after reading a blog post and seeing the vibrant colors! I knew I had to try it myself. And naturally, Little Man and a few of his friends needed some new summer gear. The process was really simple and the cleanup was pretty minimal compared to having buckets of dye like in the olden days. The colors are amazing and the process is fun. My only complaint is that because you don't saturate the fabric in dye the way that you do when you use buckets, there was a lot of white left over. So I retied and tried again a few times until I got the results that I desired. Here's the scoop.

Materials

Damp cotton shirts

Tumble Dye Spray

Newspaper

Rubber bands

Fold, roll, or twist the dampened shirts on a protected surface and add rubber bands. I tried a couple of different techniques. My favorite one was accordion folded, then rolled into a smaller ball, and then I tied it up with a rubber band. If you are interested in some tips you can check more out here, and find some video tutorials here.

Next,  you start spraying! As I mentioned, I did unfold things and check out their process along the way and added more dye as needed. Once you have achieved the look you like, untwist and cut all rubber bands off. Hang up the shirts to air dry. Once they are dry you toss them into the dryer to set for 20 minutes.

After a full wash cycle, some of the colors did fade a bit but I think they turned out pretty great! I added a little more embellishment to the pink and yellow onesie just for fun. Now Oliver and his buddies are geared up for summer music festivals! More likely just some backyard fun. And here he is scoping out the other babes on our way home from dinner last night. These temps are brutal and therefore our kitchen is closed.