Tie Dye Clothes Instructions
- 1). Select your colors. Make sure you're using fiber-reactive dye, not all-purpose dye. If you combine multiple colors, adjacent colors may bleed together, creating a new color. You may find it helpful to consult a color wheel (see Resources).
- 2). Put on rubber gloves to protect your hands from the dye. Leave them on throughout the rest of the steps. Heat at least two gallons of water per dye color in separate pots until the water is over 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The hotter the water, the brighter the resulting color. You'll also need a wooden or stainless steel utensil, long enough to reach down into the bottom of the pot, to stir each pot and fish out garments, if need be.
- 3). Prep your clothes for the tie-dye pattern by crumpling, folding or wrapping them. See Resources for a link to some tie-dye pattern examples. Some tie-dyers will also stitch loosely through a garment, then pull the thread tight to create patterns.
- 4). Dip your prepped item of clothing into the dye pots. Start with the lightest color and soak the garment for between four and seven minutes. Stir the garment occasionally and lift it out of the water to check the color. Don't remove it from the hot water until the color is one or two shades darker than the final shade you're aiming for.
- 5). Fish the garment out of the dye vat and rinse thoroughly with warm water. Make sure to run enough water down the sink to flush away any dye that came off the garment. If necessary, re-stitch, rubber band or tie the fabric to continue your pattern, then submerge the garment in the next darkest vat of dye. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until the pattern is complete.
- 6). Rinse the clothing in warm water, gradually cooling the water until no more dye runs off the garment with the water. Remove the ties or stitches and machine- or hand-wash it in warm water with a cool rinse. You can hang- or machine-dry the garment.
