Get the Tulip Red and Blue Tie-Dye Kit here!
With all the time I’m spending at home, I have felt more crafty than ever. I am not able to celebrate Fourth of July like I normally do with a big cookout, so I wanted to still mark the occasion with crafts!
Cotton Fabric Only
You have to make sure you are dying clothes with natural fibers, like 100% cotton or linen. To dye polyester or other synthetic fabrics you need a stronger dye and it is not easy to make a tie-dye design.
Using a synthetic fabric could mean that the dye will turn out a different shade/color, or that it will not absorb at all.
Design
There are so many different ways to tie your shirt together to create amazing designs. You want to decide ahead of time how you want to do this so you have all the supplies you need ready. I went with the “firecracker” design on Tulip’s website, and you can see how to do all the designs here.
Process
I started by opening the Tulip dye kit and making sure I had everything I needed. It came with 6 rubber bands, 1 pair of gloves, instructions and 2 bottles of dye. Reviews of this kit said that the included gloves leak dye, so I didn’t use them. I have better fitted gloves at home and used those instead.
The next step was to prepare the t-shirt by folding it accordion style and banding it together. I used 4 rubber bands, but really just 2 would have done the job. The rubber bands are meant to mark where to stop with each color.
I brought it outside and put it on the deck with plastic stretch film underneath. I found the bottles to be really messy and I’m really glad I laid down more plastic than I thought I needed.
After mixing up the bottles of dye with water, it was time to get started.
I followed the firecracker design exactly and did red at the top and blue at the bottom. This kit was only enough to do one t-shirt in this design. I ran out of the dye and wish I had just a bit more red to saturate the top.
I wrapped it up in plastic and let it sit for 4 hours.
Finished Product
Finished product! I rinsed it until it ran clear which took about 15-20 minutes. Then I ran it in the washing machine and it came out pretty good.
I wish the red was a bit more vibrant red; it came out a little orange/pink. The blue color looks great though. For a cheap tie-dye kit I can’t really expect more.
Next time, I will try to tie-dye with RIT dye. I have never had a problem using RIT dye and can’t wait to see what cool color combinations I can do with their variety of colors.
What crafts/projects have you been up to at home? I’d love to hear about it in the comment!