How do you tie-dyeing with a kit?

Answer 1

If you have a kid, you probably have all of the dye, and some rubber bands. How you place your rubber bands on the fabric depends on what you want to do with your design.

If you just want stripes, then you bunch up the fabric (in whichever direction you want the stripes - they'll be the opposite direction) and wrap rubber bands around tightly. The white parts of the tie dye will be where the rubber bands stopped the dye from getting into the fabric.

To make a swirl, you lay out your fabric flat, and pinch a piece of fabric (starting wherever you want your swirl to start - usually the middle, but you can get creative with it) and twist it. You'll want to get it relatively tight, and once you've twisted all of the fabric into a circle, tighten rubber bands around it making pieces like a pie. Again, wherever you have rubber bands will be a lighter spot.

Once you have your fabric tied up, you just put the dye on the fabric. You can do whatever you would like with the pattern - just stripes, or swirls. Just make sure that you really saturate the fabric.

Once you have that done, you usually let it sit in a plastic bag at least overnight. Sometimes kits will have lye in them, which you would soak the fabrics in before you dye them (not all of them have it, it's not exactly necessary).

Once your fabric has soaked in it's plastic bag, you take it out and rinse each piece of fabric individually (with the rubber bands still on) until the water runs clear. You can then take off the rubber bands and wash your new tie dye! (Make sure you do wash it, or else the dye might run and stain your other clothes)