Tie Dye Instructions for Spiral Mickey Shirt

[aries1980]

Where did you get the tink outline? My DD would LOVE it, shes 3 and is on a Tink kick right now.

 

[solferino]

Does this work if you use shirts that are not 100% cotton? THe shirts at Michaels that people posted about, being $2 are all 50 cotton 50 polyester. Will that worK?

Yes and no. The colors will be more muted, not super vibrant. Cotton is a cellulose fiber and needs a different kind of dye than a synthetic or animal fiber. Those kinds of materials need an acid dye. (Sounds scary, but the acid is white vinegar or citric acid). Acid dyes don't take on cotton and reactive dyes for cotton won't take on the other fibers. Because the fibers are blended 50/50 before spinning into a fine yarn and knit, they are evenly distributed with one another. So the cotton fibers soak up the dye, but the poly won't. That's why the color will look kind of washed out even when it's freshly dyed.

For instance- if you have a 100% cotton tshirt and the thread used is synthetic you will see the white threads where the rest of it is colored.

HTH

 

[MickeynMinnie]

we just made these with a black mickey head and an orange tye-dye shirt!!! we are going to use them for the MNSSHP!!! i;ll post a pic asap!!

 

[nts4wdw]

we just made these with a black mickey head and an orange tye-dye shirt!!! we are going to use them for the MNSSHP!!! i;ll post a pic asap!!

Can't wait to see them!!

 

[quiltymom]

Can you tell which color will go where around the Mickey head? Say you want the Mickey head to be blue, and also want to use blue as one of the twirl colors, but furthest from the Mickey head. Any suggestions?

(FYI, I just discovered this thread which is AMAZING and it is all I can do not to run out to Michael's right now -- thanks everyone!)

When you twist up the shirt the head "pops" up in the middle. And when you place the dye on the tied shirt you dye in "wedges". It may look like one color is more prominent next to the head, but in theory one color isn't. I'd just say to do the head color last on your tee, then you may be less likely to over dye that color if you would have used it first.

Clear as mud? Let me know...

 

[zippy doo dah]

We just did a whole bunch of shirts today and we are letting them sit overnight...i can't wait to see how they came out for our first time...i'll post some pics of the final product...hopefully they came out

 

[glassslipper2004]

Thanks to everyone for their advice - my girls and I just rinsed out the shirts we dyed yesterday, and they got a real kick out of it. The colors look great (but they haven't been washed yet), but I am a little disappointed in how much white is on the shirts. They were dripping with dye, but I guess I didn't get it down into the folds. DH is disappointed that his Mickey head isn't particularly sharp, but I reassured him the bleach pen is yet to come!

I'll try to post pics in a few days.

 

[quiltymom]

Thanks to everyone for their advice - my girls and I just rinsed out the shirts we dyed yesterday, and they got a real kick out of it. The colors look great (but they haven't been washed yet), but I am a little disappointed in how much white is on the shirts. They were dripping with dye, but I guess I didn't get it down into the folds. DH is disappointed that his Mickey head isn't particularly sharp, but I reassured him the bleach pen is yet to come!

I'll try to post pics in a few days.

Let me tell you, I squirted dye into the folds of my shirts like crazy, fearing that there wouldn't be any white left at all. Yet I was surprised at just how much white I did have. It's amazing just how much dye the shirts take, even when you think you've done too much.

I can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[Marshay]

Let me tell you, I squirted dye into the folds of my shirts like crazy, fearing that there wouldn't be any white left at all. Yet I was surprised at just how much white I did have. It's amazing just how much dye the shirts take, even when you think you've done too much.

I can't wait to see the pictures.

Any advice on how much dye you all used (# of ounces)? I will be dyeing my shirts either this w/e or next.

Thanks!

 

[quiltymom]

I used the small Jacquard kit for 3 small tees - two kids (one muscle shirt, one cami) and a tank top for me. I had about 1/4 of the dye left over and I don't think that I could've put any more in, it was dripping so much. I can't remember how many shirts the box said that it made - maybe 5? But that would've been pushing it.

I had the shirts banded together rather tightly and that is something that I wouldn't recommend. I could barely get the bottle spout into the folds and had to loosen the bands as I was squirting. Believe me, you don't want to do that!

 

[irky416]

Here's my attempt. I don't really like the yellow, but it turned out ok, I think.

 

[glassslipper2004]

Irky, that shirt looks great! I'm betting you used the same kit we did, the colors look very similar. I just went and bought some fabric paint to paint around the Mickey heads on my girls' shirts, so we'll see how that works... I'll post pics after the bleaching and painting is done.

I'm also trying to figure out if I am crazy enough to go back and put more dye on the white spots, but that seems like asking for trouble.

 

[Marshay]

Here's my attempt. I don't really like the yellow, but it turned out ok, I think.

I think your shirt is great -- it's actually quite original since the yellow doesn't go all the way around at the top -- like you were trying to be asymmetrical!!

Good job!

I'm still waiting for my dyes to arrive...I decided to go with the ones from Dharma Trading Company so I could do an assortment of blues...

 

[irky416]

Thank you, glassslipper2004 and Marshay! I enjoyed wearing it to Disney, even though no one else I was going with would let me make them one!

 

[Miz Diz]

Great shirts everyone! My DH thinks I am going Tie Dye crazy. I've done 3 "test" shirts and today I am attempting to do 14 shirts. I have been doing the sewing a little at a time.

I'll post pics later.

What I learned on my test - I believe my shirts were too wet and I rinsed while wet. One of the shirts was almost completely dry before I rinsed and the color is better. The color is also not as strong when you let the die sit for a while. My third shirt was done a week after the first 2. There was a lot of white space on the shirts that I banded. One of the shirts, I just spot applied, trying to create a crinkle look. It was much easier because there was no banding and I got lay the shirt out to check everything out and then crinkle back up. I made my Mickey ears much further apart because of bleeding. I used a little bleach to make mickey sharper, but my bleach pen would not work for some reason. I dipped a Qtip in a little bleach and blotted.

This go around, I am doing 3 stitch shirts and 2 tink shirts, but I bought paint pens from JoAnns and painted the characters. I did a tink "test" one already and it looks good, except for too much white space as noted above.

 

[Miz Diz]

I messed up with the bleach a little on the big shirt. The small Mickey shirt is the one that was almost completely dry when I rinsed. I did not used bleach on it and my DH told me it looks like a heart. Tink is the one that I used the old Dye on and I painted Tink on with the permanent paint pen.
I banded the 2 small ones.

 

[pperfectmom]

We did some shirts a couple weeks ago and the colors weren't very vivid. The mickey heads came out great, but we also had a lot of white. I thought the shirts were beyond saturated but I guess I was wrong. Is everyone following the directions on mixing the dye? Ours made 3 gallons! I just wonder if you can make it more concentrated for more vivid colors or if that is a bad idea? If I get a chance, I'll try to post some pics.

 

[Imagoofy1]

Wow - thanks -- maybe i will try to make some of the shirts for our upcoming trip

 

[Marshay]

I messed up with the bleach a little on the big shirt. The small Mickey shirt is the one that was almost completely dry when I rinsed. I did not used bleach on it and my DH told me it looks like a heart. Tink is the one that I used the old Dye on and I painted Tink on with the permanent paint pen.
I banded the 2 small ones.

Hey, Miz Diz -- I like your color choices!! The Mickeys and Tink came out great! Thanks for sharing your pics!

 

[imadisneynut]

Wow - thanks -- maybe i will try to make some of the shirts for our upcoming trip

just wanted to say hi mom we will have to try and make these shirts