How to Tie Dye pt.2

Now our Tie Dye has spent the night all wrapped up in it's cocoon and it is time for the reveal.
Put on your vinyl gloves and take the plastic off the shirt.It is important to rinse the shirt out very well in warm water...

Dunk...take the rubber bands off...

Oh Boy! Look at that. Mardi Gras greatness.

After you have rinsed and rinsed most of the dye out you can put it in the normal wash.

I hang the shirts up to dry after rinsing

(do not let them touch each other).

Once they are dry I throw them all in the wash together.
Here is the shirt I made for this tutorial...fab huh?!It is now available for purchase in the shop.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Have a terrific day!

How to Tie Dye pt.1

Good Morning!
Today I am attempting my first tutorial and the super fun project is...
Tie Dyeing a t-shirt and since Mardi Gras is approaching fast, the colors I am using are Deep Purple, Forest Green, Bright Green, Palomino Gold, and Bright Yellow. I have found many different techniques to use but after dyeing over 1000 shirts and yards and yards of fabric, I have developed the best way for me and that is what I am going to demonstrate...My Way!

You will need the following
1. Dye ( we use Dharma Trading co. brand) follow the brands recipe and I highly recommend mixing the dye up the day before.
2.Urea to mix with the dye
3. Plastic squeeze bottles
4.Water
5.vinyl gloves
6.Rubber gloves
7.Rubber bands
8. Plastic sheeting cut into large squares
9. Lots of paper towels
10. Soda Ash
11. Funnel, tbsp.,tsp., 1 cup measuring cup.
12. 5 gallon bucket or a large bowl/bucket
13. 100% natural fiber shirts...cotton, hemp,bamboo, silk etc.
I thought I had taken a photo with everything you will need but I left out the paper towels,bucket, funnel,measuring spoons,and soda ash. So make sure you check the list above.

First you need to mix up your soda ash and warm water soak.

I use about 3 gallons of warm water for 10 to 15 shirts approx.,

The ratio is 1 cup soda ash to 1 gallon water. So if you have 3 gallons of water mix in 3 cups soda ash. Put on those rubber gloves, mix it up and immerse all the shirts in the water. Let them soak for at least an hour, I have left them in overnight and they are fine.

Put on those rubber gloves again and ring out the shirt you plan to dye first.

At this point you will need to put on the vinyl gloves and lay the shirt out flat on a clean table. You will need those rubber bands too...lots of them. about 8 to 10 per shirt.

Now there are many different wonderful ways to tie a shirt and create fabulous designs but today I am going to show you the simple "Swirl".

Pinch the shirt where you want the center of the swirl to be placed. I recommend a bit higher than center because no one wants a swirl right on their tummy. At least I don't. If you are going to be dyeing multiple shirts it may be best to "tie" them all up before you begin dyeing. You want to keep your work area clean while tying or you will get dye where you don't want it. Just don't let the shirts dry out.

OK...

Pinch and start to twist. As easy as that.

As you twist you need to guide the fabric with your other hand. The more folds you have the more detail you will have.

At this point just hold the center and wrap the rest of the shirt around.

Like this...

Now secure it with rubber bands like so...

Now comes the fun and sometimes unpredictable part, applying the dye.

I am not including how to mix the dye because different colors have different recipes and it would be best for you to follow the dye's instructions. If you have any trouble with the recipe just leave me a comment. I am happy to help.

Ok...so your dye is all mixed up and in squeeze bottles. I recommend the high quality bottles Dharma Trading Co. has opposed to the mustard/ketchup kitchen type bottle. I tried the condiment bottle initially and they leaked all over...major bummer.

Get those paper towels and lay your tied shirt on a piece of plastic sheeting.

So now start dyeing! To get a swirl shape you just think of it like a pie.

You can dye 3 pieces to the pie or 6 or whatever...3 pieces is the one I am doing today. So first I am starting with the green piece of pie.

Now you will need to keep those paper towels handy...real handy.

I am starting with Bright Green. Carefully squirt the dye into a pie shape from the center to the outer edge. Use your paper towel to wipe up any stray squirts or drops and the dye will run along those rubber bands and go where you don't want them, so dab the dye off the bands as you go.

Here is my first pie, first side.

Now you will think that you are putting too much dye on...so flip it over
and you will see it didn't even go through. So add dye to the flip side. Like so...

Take a peek underneath at the first side and you will see it is now running all the way through.

So wipe the plastic off with the paper towel and flip the shirt over.

I am jumping ahead just a bit here... I have added Forest Green to both sides and Palomino Gold to the original side leaving some white between the bright green and Palomino Gold because I want to blend the gold and green together a bit with the Bright Yellow. It is good to keep in mind the colors that will be created when two colors meet. For instance if you use blue next to red than you may have purple where they touched. I have a very hard time with our Independence day shirts due to this.

Flip it over again, wiping the excess dye off the plastic with every flip.

Here I am adding the Palomino Gold to the flip side.

With this flip you can see I am starting to get a "muddy puddle". You need to try and keep this wiped up or the muddiness will soak into your shirt.

Add the Bright Yellow...oh yeah!

Muddy puddle alert!

Deep Purple is up next... first side...

Deep Purple flip side...

Ok now... you need to know the importance of achieving the "muddy puddle" or not. If you apply so little dye that you never actually create a puddle then you will have a lot more white showing than you may want. If you Super Soak it with dye you will have very little white showing on the end. It is really a matter of how much white/contrast you want. Just remember it will take more puddling than you think.

I have quite a puddle here with all the colors combined and I do not want the shirt to spend the night in a Muddy puddle.

So wipe and flip,wipe and flip,wipe and flip...

Until your shirt is only puddling about this much when it sits.

Wrap it up in the plastic sheet and secure with rubber bands.

Now when I make multiple shirts at once I lay them out on plastic on a industrial cookie sheet, not wrapped in plastic, to prevent puddling and washing all that plastic is not fun for me.

You will have no problem with them wrapped as long as you leave it laying flat, if the bundle is held sideways the dye will move and drip, you may end up with purple on your yellow which is nothing like chocolate in your peanut butter (remember that commercial?)

It is important that the shirt doesn't dry out and it will need to sit at least 8 hours but I leave mine overnight.

next post- How to Tie Dye pt. 2

Happy Day!

Progress,Spools, and Pirates

Yesterday I finished a goofy little project that has no real purpose but I had a need and I went with it. My thread consumption has skyrocketed since I started quilting and as a result I have a rather large empty spool collection. I wasn't sure how I would utilize them initially but one day as I was trying to corral my precious yarn balls, I thought "yarn and spools...hmmm..." Here is the result. I glued a bit of every color yarn I had onto the thread spools and then strung them on a length of black ribbon.
What it is I do not know. An upcycled spool yarn garland?
Now where should it hang? Maybe I need a crafty tree?

In the meantime the "Sea Glass and Snow" afghan is coming along quickly. Well it was... until carpal issues started flaring.I have had to set it aside for a few days.

Oh...here is a sneak peak of something special my super duper hubby made for me...

It is all finished except for the decorating which I am going to take my sweet time doing.

The pesky pirates have taken up residence already! He should sweep up while he is in there. ;0)

Wild about Rugby

Rugby Bugby ...

Little Snugby.

Snuggle Bear, Ruggle Bear

Little Buggle Bear

I am just WILD about Rugby. So is my son.

We have had Rugby for over a year now and we cannot imagine life without her. Rescued dogs are the best, she is so loving and grateful.

A velvety soft little anti depressant.

The Weirdest Winter?

This may turn out to be the weirdest winter I have experienced in my 32 years here. It hasn't snowed or rained in many weeks and I can see every bit of my garden. Weird. The temps have been so warm and the sun blazing through my windows makes me feel the need to work in the soil.Weird. I mean it is January 7th (the ground is frozen) and there isn't feet upon feet of snow outside. Weird.

Rugby thinks the water looks weird and she wonders where the snow is.

The lakes freeze every winter but usually they are covered with too much snow to shovel off and skate. This year no problem.

Last year we received 55 feet of snow over the whole winter and so far this year almost none. Feast or Famine...that is what I keep hearing, but to be honest I don't remember feasting all that much last year!

This town can't survive without snow, you see...we are snow farmers.

Our ski resort is the biggest employer in this entire county and although they can make snow up there we are all going start feeling the pinch if it doesn't snow soon.

So...Pray for Snow!

Today is another gorgeously sunny day and I am going to watch the NFL wild card playoff games today while I work on a few projects.

Have a fabulous day!

A bit of Christmas

Although I didn't blog about anything Christmasy this year, I did make a few new things for the Holidays. One exciting new project was a custom order for Tie Dyed Dresses. They came out so cute, I am going to start carrying them in the shop very soon.
I made a few new pillow covers for the living room...
Don't you just love that fabric? I do.Lovey Dovey Peace and Joy... I may keep this one out all year.
To add some texture I whipped up a crocheted pillow cover made of sweet little Granny's on the front and...
stripes on the back. Yes, that is Rugby's freckled booty.

This beauty was a "hand me down" unfinished project from my Aunt.

At some point she painstakingly wove a whole lot of ribbons into a fabulous top so I just slapped a plain white back on it and Voila!

Gorgeous, no?

and there is more!

"til then XOXO