Tie Dye Instructions for Spiral Mickey Shirt

[sjlupin]

Maybe we'll see each other in our Mickey shirts....we leave in 9 days too! I'm still waiting for two shirts to come in the mail. I've already stitched & banded the two shirts I could find at the store here. If the shirts don't come by next Tuesday, I'm going to just go purchase more shirts for DH & myself (the ones I"m currently waiting on).

Either way, Tuesday is my tie dye day. I'm also nervous! Such a big project...I really hope it turns out OK.

It will be great. It is really hard to totally screw up. The great thing about tie dye is that there isn't a right or wrong what to have it come out - they are all unique and really cool.

DD11 wants to do another one for herself, so we might be doing some more tie dying this weekend. I have lots of dye left over, so I might as well use it, right?

Hope to see you in The World! We'll be at the Poly from 1/19-1/24 then on the Wonder from 1/24-1/27.

Have fun!

 

[CrazyZeus1]

Today's the day!

DS is sick, so we're stuck home all day, which means I should do the tie dye project today!

I've spent the entire morning re-reading this thread (talk about needing a life!) just to make sure I don't miss anything. I know tie dye is supposed to be a creative project, but I want it to be "right". Gotta let THAT go!

I'll post pics tomorrow of the finished product....wish us luck!

 

[Marshay]

Today's the day!

DS is sick, so we're stuck home all day, which means I should do the tie dye project today!

I've spent the entire morning re-reading this thread (talk about needing a life!) just to make sure I don't miss anything. I know tie dye is supposed to be a creative project, but I want it to be "right". Gotta let THAT go!

I'll post pics tomorrow of the finished product....wish us luck!

Can't wait to see them! Remember you can always go back and re-do with additional dye or a bleach pen if they aren't just "right", but really, it's hard to go wrong with these!

 

[mom2mykids]

Today's the day!

DS is sick, so we're stuck home all day, which means I should do the tie dye project today!

I've spent the entire morning re-reading this thread (talk about needing a life!) just to make sure I don't miss anything. I know tie dye is supposed to be a creative project, but I want it to be "right". Gotta let THAT go!

I'll post pics tomorrow of the finished product....wish us luck!

LOL, I even printed out directions when I first tried it. We had so much fun we made another set a few weeks later. Have fun! Can't wait to see them!!

Oh, Marshay......that little bug thing in you siggy had me swatting at my screen for a moment,

 

[Shriva]

Just desided to take the wife to WDW for her birthday, leave tomorrow..lol

I made some of these for our trip last night and videotaped some of it..

After i wash the shirts out i'll put the video together and post it. Its not the best.. (Bad camera angle) But it might help some people out.

 

[Marshay]

Oh, Marshay......that little bug thing in you siggy had me swatting at my screen for a moment,

Now THAT'S too funny!

Someone (TrentMom, if you know her) on the DIS sent it to me...I guess I was supposed to say, "I've been bugged by TrentMom", but I thought it was kind of cute all by itself! And now that I got a friendly laugh out of it, it's even better!

 

[quiltymom]

Just desided to take the wife to WDW for her birthday, leave tomorrow..lol

I made some of these for our trip last night and videotaped some of it..

After i wash the shirts out i'll put the video together and post it. Its not the best.. (Bad camera angle) But it might help some people out.

WOW! I'm impressed! I can't wait to see what they look like!

 

[CrazyZeus1]

Well, all the shirts are sitting happily in their saran wrap!

I ended up having to run to Hobby Lobby mid-project because I ran out of dye. I used two entire bottles of red AND blue on just three adult shirts and I didn't have anything left over for my little guy's shirt. Ugh!

I wasn't sure if I was over doing the dye, but it never got drippy & so I just kept going & going with the dye into my "pie wedges" of the danish! We'll see...I ended up doing alternating red & blue on the shirt with a lime green Mickey. I'm already thinking I"ll need to bleach pen my little guy's shirt because (even though I used 1" of tight rubber banding) the green mickey color is already seeping to the base of the rubberband stack. Hmmm...

My plan is to let them sit 24 hours (Tulip brand is all I could find, & box says "8 hours, or more for brighter colors"). So tomorrow afternoon we'll open them up.

DH laughed at me & said we should just buy tie dyed shirts & iron on a Mickey Head shape I think I"m bugging him with my t-shirt worries!

 

[Shriva]

I also did two just spiral designs and was thinking of screen printing on the heads..

Would be a more defined head.. and was going to try other screen printing designs anyway..

 

[Shriva]

gong to have to wait till i get back to post the video.. running out of time here..lol

Shirts turned out great though!

 

[CrazyZeus1]

OK....in case anyone sees this in time & can help with an answer (because I can't find it on the thread!)

I have my "danishes" all dyed & will be rinsing them later today.

Do I do the first rinse while they're still tied up? Or untie them (as my box directions say) & rinse them that way? Does it matter?

Thanks again for all the advice Will post pics tonight!

 

[gnbuggy]

I rinsed my shirts in cold water still tied, and as the water started to clear out I began to take off the rubber bands. I also tried to rinse the Mickey head as well as possible if I used a dark color. I was worried that it would bleed too much onto the other colors. It seemed to work well me. Im looking forward to seeing your shirts. I dont think Ive seen any turn out bad.

 

[CrazyZeus1]

Well, the final product worked WAY better than I thought it would! Here's my pictures.
Front of Mine & DH:

Back of Mine & DH:

Front of DD & DS:

Back of DD & DS:

I used the Tulip brand dyes & was not at all disapointed! The colors are vivid & very pretty. I used blue, red, & "lime green" which came out more neonish than limeish.

What I did that led to success:

1. 100% cotton shirts
2. Pulled the mickey head dental floss thread as tight as possible.
3. Soaked in soda ash, then twisted into "danishes" and banded lightly to form sections
4. Mixed dye according to Tulip directions. However, I left dye on for full 24 hours instead of the 8 hours it suggested.
5. Put pastic wrap around the green mickey head as I dyed the rest of the danish.
6. Poked through almost all crevices to make SURE I didn't see any white. There obviously was still white spaces, but I dyed as much as I could find. Made for a more heavily colored shirt with less white.

What I didn't like:
1. The "lime green" Tulip color comes out more neon-ish, and a blend of neon yellow/green. But it still looks good I think.
2. I saturated the Mickey Heads WAY too much & it soaked all the way through my 2" of rubber banding. Next time, I'll put just enough dye on Mickey head to color it, but not make it drippy.
3. If you want lots of blending of your colors, I don't know if Tulip does that well. While I used blue & red on a wet soda ash shirt, I didn't end up with ANY purple. Which was fine with me. But if you're looking for mixing colors on the shirt, I'm not sure if you'll get that.
4. My Mickey heads were just big blobs because I used too much lime green dye. The quick fix for that was the Clorox Bleach Pen. It rocked & TOTALLY saved my shirts! Instead of a solid outline around the Mickey Head, I made "hatch marks" around the head. I placed my tracing pattern back on the tshirt so I had a clear Mickey Head shape to follow, & then drew dashes all around the head. When you look at the shirts as a whole, it looks more like tie dye than tracing a solid line around the head.

Thanks again to the OP & everyone else who has chimed in with their suggestions. If I had more time, I would have made a second set of shirts for our trip. The project was so easy & fun!

The best part? DH is excited to wear his shirt!

 

[debbiedana]

4. My Mickey heads were just big blobs because I used too much lime green dye. The quick fix for that was the Clorox Bleach Pen. It rocked & TOTALLY saved my shirts! Instead of a solid outline around the Mickey Head, I made "hatch marks" around the head. I placed my tracing pattern back on the tshirt so I had a clear Mickey Head shape to follow, & then drew dashes all around the head. When you look at the shirts as a whole, it looks more like tie dye than tracing a solid line around the head.

OUTSTANDING SHIRTS!!!!! The hatch mark idea is brilliant!

Mine are 'cooking' in plastic wrap right now.

 

[gnbuggy]

Those are great!!

 

[sjlupin]

CrazyZues - Well done, they look amazing!!!!!

We did some more tie dying this weekend. DD11 wasn't pleased with her mickey head shirt (the mickey head itself was great, but she didn't like how the other colors came out). She got a little carried away with the dye on the mickey and it did just what you said - blead through the tight rubber bands. It is still nice and she likes it, but I may have to take a bleach pen to it like you did! We'll see ... we leave in 3 days so it might not get done.

 

[CrazyZeus1]

I think someone else on this thread did the same thing with bleach liquid & a paint brush. Same idea.

A word to anyone considering the project: You can do it!!! I cannot sew, never learned how, & beyond sewing on a button, I cannot do anything with a thread & needle. Well, OK, now I can do the up-and-down stich needed for Mickey's Head! You really can't go wrong...

I was afraid to try the shirts, thinking they wouldn't work. But it was easy & worked fabulously. I would highly suggest keeping a bleach pen or bleach/paintbrush on hand though. Because, like I said, it totally saved our shirts. Otherwise, every Mickey would have been a green heart/blob because I put too much dye on the Mickey part!

Off to Disney in 2 days...proudly sporting our shirts!!!! I'll post a pic once we get back

 

[Gillian]

The best part? DH is excited to wear his shirt!

That's awesome! Love the bleach hatch marks - very creative!

 

[debbiedana]

I have to figure out how to post pics, I'll get my shirts up as soon as we get back.

Ours turned out fantastic, including the Mickey heads. We did not need to use bleach. They were very defined.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread that helped me out so very much! I'll get those soon!

 

[quiltymom]

Thanks for posting the new shirts, and I cannot wait to see more!

This is such a fun thread!