Kids & Creativity: How to Tie Dye!

The fact that tie dye is back and all the rage these days makes my heart happy. I lived for tie dye in the 90s, wearing it (and making it!) as often as I could. We had a store in my hometown mall called The Funky Monkey where you could buy just about anything in tie dye (with or without the Grateful Dead bear as the centerpiece), and I spent more than my fair share of my allowance there!

My middle daughter got a couple of tie dye kits for her birthday this year and couldn't wait to try them out. She was constantly begging to run to the store and buy a few white t-shirts to tie dye and make her own. I just did an article for Zulily with tons of great tie dye crafts, so I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve for sure! 

There are lots of fun tie dye techniques you can try these days. We started with a basic spiral tie dye. 

Tie dye t-shirt, designed by this cute kiddo! 

How to Tie Dye: The Basics

Creating a traditional tie dye shirt is actually really easy and fun! Your kids can easily do it themselves with a little guidance from you.

I like to purchase tie-dye kits because they really come with everything you need. Zulily usually has a few good ones for sale. But you can absolutely buy everything separately for inexpensive, too!

Materials needed:

White t-shirts, bandanas, socks, etc., all prewashed. No need to dry!

A white t-shirt ready to be tie-dyed! We got this one at Walmart for $3ish. 

Tie dye in whatever colors you want to use.

Rubber bands.

Plastic gloves.

Plastic sandwich bags. 

Step by step tie dye instructions:

Make sure your items are prewashed so they don't shrink. No need to dry them, you want the fabric wet to tie dye. If your items are already dry, wet them. You don't want them soaked and dripping, just damp.

Lay the garment flat and find the center. I found it helpful, when I was learning to tie dye, to use a pencil to mark the center of the item and wind. 

Twist the item from the center until it is in a circle or pie shape. 

This t-shirt is ready for tie dye!

Rubber band the item to make it hold its shape. Use lots of rubber bands or only a few. Rubber bands should go all the way around the circular item and create "slices" in the fabric, like a piece of pizza or a pie. 

Using tie dye in whichever pattern you wish, starting dying the slices different colors, making sure to cover the fabric front and back with tie. We wear plastic gloves for this step so our hands don't get to messy. We do this step out on the grass or our back sidewalk. 

Getting her tie-dye on! Outside. Because tie dye is fun but oh-so-messy! 

Once you have dyed all the "slices" of fabric, the item needs to dry. We place the shirts we make in plastic sandwich bags and let them sit overnight.

After the dye has set for 24 hours, remove the item from the bag and remove the rubber bands and discard. 

Wash and dry your t-shirt as normal and voila! You have a fun tie dye creation all your own!

If you are a visual learned like I am, this is a great tutorial to help you visualize the above steps. 

My youngest's tie dye creation, before it went through the washing machine! 

Tie Dye Extras: More fun tie dye projects to try!

Now that the girls and I have mastered basic tie dye, we are ready to branch out. Here are a few more tie-dye projects we are looking forward to tackling in the next few weeks!

Ice Tie Dye- Honestly, these t-shirts and socks look so cool! I can't believe that they were designed simply with a pile of ice and powdered dye color. This is even less messy than traditional tie dye, which is a total bonus in my opinion. I see a bunch of tie-dye socks on my girls' feet come fall...

Bleach Tie Dye- This is another easy(ish) tie dye trick the girls can't wait to try. Just grab a darker colored cotton shirt and let the kids make a pattern using bleach and rubber bands. Even better- this one technique is super inexpensive and doesn't require many ingredients. Plus you can always use the bleach for laundry or cleaning so it won't go to waste after you're finished crafting with it. 

Galaxy Tie Dye- I had no idea that galaxy tie dye shirts were as easy to create as they look on this tutorial! I would have guessed that the unique pattern created by galaxy tie dye took a lot more than a few spray bottles of bleach and dye color and a twisted t-shirt! I'm excited to give this one a try!

Sharpie Tie Dye- Talk about easy and (virtually) mess-free! Sharpie tie dye is the perfect craft for a play date because it is fun and unique but not as messy as traditional tie dye. Kids of all ages can have fun creating their own mini masterpieces with fabric and Sharpies in all different colors.

What fun tie dye creations have you made lately! I'd love to you to share instruction or photos in the comments!