Tie Dying Shirts - Left Over Easter Egg Dye Part 2

Like I posted about yesterday, we had extra Rit dye from doing the Easter eggs so I thought we could do something fun. We also had left over wax from the eggs so I thought I would Batik something on the shirt for Princess number two that I wanted to make for her birthday. I wanted to try a different method of dying the shirt than the other girls used.

First, I wanted to make a little name tag area where I wanted to have the shirt be white over writing so I took a Black Sharpie marker and wrote, "We love our Missionary" on the shirt. Next, I used a paint brush and the melted wax to "paint" the hot wax over the words I wrote in Sharpie.

You can batik any pattern or wording you want on the fabric and where you paint the wax, the dye won't go leaving that portion of the shirt white. I remember doing that with a scarf or something in fourth grade. Rit Dye is best and the wax is mold-able candle wax or batiking wax.

I wish now I had done some heart shapes on her shirt but it turned out cute in the end anyway.

For this pattern of tie dye, you can use string and/or elastics. I took a piece of string and did the front and back of the shirt individually. I tied string on to the bottom of the gather and then started wrapping it until I got to the center of the shirt. I did three different "arms" like this and they all came together in the middle. I used elastic bands on one of the arms and in the center where needed. I then let the shirt sit with one of its "arms" in a dye color for about 20 minutes. I then used a glove to squeeze out any extra dye so it wouldn't bleed into the other girls shirts. I did each "arm" a different color so that the shirt would have more bright colors.

I posted yesterday also about setting the dye. Leave the dye on the shirt over night by keeping them in bag over night and then pulling the string, elastics etc off. Then, let them air dray all the way making sure that you don't wash or dry them until they are fully dry. Then was in cold water and dry in the dryer to set the dye.

There are other types of patterns I looked up in the little booklet that came with some glow iron on's and die kits I bought on clearance after Halloween. I have had may just the that I purchased on clearance with dye in them as well.

Because I washed the shirts before they were set and dry, they bled causing a red muted color rather than the bright colors we started out with. All the shirts were cute in the end but not exactly what the girls wanted. I will have to make more shirts and show the different patterns that can be created by the instructions on the kit.

I keep falling asleep. I pray that this post is readable in the morning.