Tie-Dye

As many of you may know that I come from Gujarat and one of the many things it is famous for is “Bandhani” which is a kind of tie-dye textile. I have loved the bandhani since forever. I never knew that one of its version could be done at home until last summer when we went on a camping trip which was very child friendly and had a lot of child-centric activities. One of the activities was tie-dye and I loved it more than Angel. And recently, I did it at home along with Angel.  So I got a tie dye kit and a couple of white t-shirts for her as well as for myself. We had a blast and the results are gorgeous. We are already longing to do more tie-dye projects!

So the kit I got had basically all the materials that we needed. It has the dye bottles with powdered dye, some elastic bands and disposable gloves.

We had to fill the bottle with water and shake it up so that it mixes properly and gives an even color.

The wired rack with a tray underneath made it easier for us to work.

We soaked our t-shirts in water for around 15-20 minutes before we started. We made a couple of patters and even matched 2 as Angel wanted J

We were having so much fun with the project that I forgot to click step wise pics, however they are fairly simple and easily available online.

Pattern # 1 – Stripes

        1.    Pleat and fold fabric vertically

        2.    Use elastic bands to secure the fabric and make as many sections as you wish

        3.    Apply dye to each section. Flip it and repeat on the other side. We alternated  between blue and red, you can use as many colors or any pattern that you wish!

Pattern # 2 – Swirl

        1.    Pinch the t-shirt at the center and twist it until it gets spiral shape

        2.    Bind 3-4 elastic bands overlapping each other, to create 6-8 wedges

        3.    Apply the dye to each section making a pattern if you desire. Flip it and         repeat on the other side

We matched :)

Pattern # 3 – Bull’s Eye

       1.    Pinch the t-shirt at the center and pull it upwards in a conical shape

       2.    Tie the first elastic 2 inches below the center and then continue to tie as many  as you wish in a downward direction. We used 2

       3.    Dye each section in the desired color

Pattern # 4 – Sunburst

       1.    Pinch the t-shirt and pull it upwards about 1-2 inches to tie the elastic.

       2.    Create as many sunbursts as you want

       3.    Apply dye to tips and apply another color to the rest of the t-shirt. I used my   grey t-shirt so I just mixed all the colors on the tips

Pattern # 5 – Crumpled

      1.    Crumple the t-shirt

      2.    Randomly secure it with elastic bands

      3.    Dye it. We had a lot of yellow left so we did it just with yellow. You can use your creativity and use multiple shades if you want!

Pattern # 6 – Random

This is just that – random. So we had some dye left and I handed Angel a t-shits which had a white background to tie dye as she pleased. She was thrilled. She randomly tied the elastic bands wherever she wished and randomly used the color whichever she liked. She had the most fun doing this and the result is still beautiful!

Now comes the difficult part of waiting. Wrap the fabrics in a cling film or use a zip lock bag and let them sit for 6-8 hours. Unwrap it, remove the elastics and unleash the magic. Hold it under running water until the water runs clear. Wash and dry it in the washing machine or hang them to dry!