Tie Dye your Summer!

This is a compensated post as part of a campaign with Blueprint Social and Tulip. All opinions are my own.

Are you ready to Tie Dye your Summer??  Need a fun project to occupy the kids?  Check out this box of Tulip One-Step Tie Dye products I received in the mail last week.  I've always heard that tie dying is so easy, but it seemed like more work than I wanted to tackle.  I was wrong!  Tie dying is a piece of cake and Tulip makes it even easier by providing all of the supplies you need in their One-Step Tie Dye Kits- the dye bottles all ready pre-filled with powdered dye, complete instructions with colorful photos and project/design details, rubber-bands, several pairs of plastic gloves and a large plastic sheet.

 Although it wasn't included in the steps, I pre-treated the shirts by soaking them in washing soda to hold the color.  Soak the shirts in the washing soda for 5-15minutes.  Wring out excess water.

 While the shirts soaked, I got all of the supplies ready.

 Fill the bottle to the line with warm water.

 It's smart to put the gloves on first.  I learned this after I already had a little red dye on my fingers.  Shake the bottle to dissolve the dye powder.

How to make a Spiral Rainbow tie dye design:  Spiral the t-shirt fabric by placing fork prongs on the shirt where you want the spiral to start and twisting the fork to pull the fabric into a spiral.  Secure with rubber bands (so it looks like 6 pieces of pie).  Add your red dye over one slice of the pie and repeat with each color- saving yellow for last.  Flip the shirt over and add each color dye on the backside.  Place the dyed t-shirt in a plastic bag and leave for 6-8 hours.  Rinse in cold water until the water runs clear.  Wash in hot water (separate from other clothes the first few washings).

How to make a USA Flag tie dye t-shirt:  Gather the fabric for the blue part of the flag and secure with a rubber-band (about middle of shoulder and just under the sleeve).  Wad up the sleeve and rubber-band.  Vertically accordion fold the remaining t-shirt fabric and rubber-band approximately every 2".  Add your blue dye to the shirt and then add the red dye every other section for the stripes.

 I didn't want the stripes to touch while it set for 6-8 hours, so I used plastic wrap to cover the shirt.  After 6-8 hours, remove plastic wrap, rinse in cold water until water runs clear, wash in hot water.

How to tie dye Colorado Flag t-shirt:  this is my favorite and one I contemplated for the entire day.  I wasn't sure how I was going to keep the white section white, but have the blue around the red C.  I think I came pretty close for completely winging it.  Location the part of the t-shirt where you want the yellow dot and gather a small circle of t-shirt to rubber-band.  Gather another circle below for the red C.  Scrunch the top of the shirt and bottom of the shirt and randomly rubber-band sections.  Leave the middle to have the band of white behind the C.  Add the yellow dye.  Add the red dye (if you look at the gathered circle like a clock going clockwise, add dye starting at 4o'clock and stop at 2 o'clock).  There was only a little bit of spreading.  Add light blue and dark blue dye to the top and bottom sections.  Cover in plastic for 6-8 hrs.  Rinse in cold until water runs clear.  Wash in hot (separate).

I was so excited when I uncovered and removed the rubber-bands and began to rinse!  Everyone who has seen this CO flag shirt wants one just like it.

How to horizontal tie dye shirt:  Accordion (vertically) fold the t-shirt and secure with rubber-bands every 2".  Rotate dye colors.  Flip and add dye to other side as well.  Place in plastic bag for 6-8hrs.  Rinse in cold water until the water runs clear. Wash in hot (separate from other fabrics).  I washed the rainbow spiral shirts and this striped shirt in one load and the two flag shirts in another load.

His two favorite team colors tie dyed together:  Colorado Rockies and Green Bay.

Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye is America's Favorite Tie Dye! It is easy to use. The colors are bright and bold. You don't have to worry about fading- the dyes are permanent and color-fast. The kids had a blast creating different designs and we're now getting started on refashioning the shirts to use as swim suit cover ups for the pool this summer. I can't get home fast enough from work to do 5 more shirts with the kids this evening.

Check out more project ideas at ilovetocreate. Follow ilovetocreate on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest.

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