From Dip Dye to Tie Dye

Yep, the boyfriend and I decided we had to try tie dying! 

We went to Southampton and got our hands on loads of Dylon dyes, including yellow, blue, purple and pink and of course some cheap T-shirts from Primark (£2.50) and H&M (£4.99). After rushing home we started the process of making up the dyes and putting them into some spray bottles we bought from Home Base, which were £1.99 each. This did take a while but we can use these dyes over and over again, which is great seeing as each dye was £2.90 each. 

When you've made all the dyes; the instructions are on the packet, you can start your T-shirt. We used a basic swirl design, which is where you pinch the middle of the T-shirt and twist it into a circle, it's super easy to do and is really effective. 

You can find images on how to do it on google as I completely forgot to photograph the whole thing, the excitement was too intense!  

After this you have to tie the t-shirt up with a few elastic bands; general rule the more elastic bands the more strips of undyed fabric you will get with the final result.

Once you are happy with the amount of elastic bands around your T-shirt you can then start the fun bit! 

With the spray bottles you just spray where ever over the top of the shirt, I would recommend doing this outside as the spray bottles can get a bit messy.  

Then you turn over the tops and do the same on the other side, make sure you cover as much as the t-shirt as possible, and try and saturate it as much as you can without it being dripping wet.

Above is the photo of my boyfriends and I's tops after covering them with dye. 

After this the waiting game commences, where you have to leave it in a plastic bag over night preferably in a warm place. You have to do this as it gives the dyes time to sink in, and concentrate to make the colours vibrant.

The next day you have to run the t-shirts under cold water, then undo the elastic bands and run the shirt under warm water. This makes sure any colour that has not sunk into the fabric comes out before you wash it with your usual clothes. 

You then have to dry your top off, after it's dry iron it on a high heat to set the colour into the t-shirt even more, then your done and you'll have a fantastic original tie dye top, that doesn't cost £20! 

I'm wearing mine today with my Levi high waisted shorts, which works perfectly.
Happy tie dying

x