Tie Dye Instructions for Spiral Mickey Shirt

[quiltymom]

We are finally making our tye die shirts this weekend for our upcoming trip. Quick question - do I wash the shirts first without fabric softener to remove the sizing as I had to do when I was doing iron on transfers?

Thanks, Carol

Yes! Have fun, and good luck!

 

[cfwallen]

Well, we dyed 2 shirts tonight. My 5 yo dd did most of the dying and got a little carried away with herself so i am a little worried as to what we will get. I will post our attempt (if I have enough posts to post a pic) sometime on Sunday after they are rinsed and washed.

Carol

 

[Couturier]

Well, we dyed 2 shirts tonight. My 5 yo dd did most of the dying and got a little carried away with herself so i am a little worried as to what we will get. I will post our attempt (if I have enough posts to post a pic) sometime on Sunday after they are rinsed and washed.

Carol

Yay! I bet it was fun for her! I cant wait to see the pics, when are you going to DW?

Thanks, Dana

 

[cfwallen]

After playing around in the test forum, I should now Have enough posts to post a picture. The shirts actually came out pretty good. She didn't get as much dye in the folds so both have some white showing.

We used a Jacquard 3 color kit on 100% cotton tees. We let the dye set for 36 hours and got great color.

Shirt 1 front modeled by DD

Shirt 1 back

Shirt 2 front

Shirt 2 back

Shirt 1 has a fairly well defined mickey head. Shirt 2 is a little less defined. I picked up some dimensional fabric paint and may try outline mickey's head. We had some dye left over and are going to dye some socks tonight. We also got another dye kit to dye 4 adult shirts tomorrow night.

Thanks to everyone for all there help and advice and to the op for the great directions!

Carol W.

 

[lucigo]

I am going to try this for the first time.....

????Does anybody know how to get a stick family shirt made????

I would think you could dye the shirt and then use the Tide pen to draw the stick figures on it, similar to the spiral mickey shirt.

 

[carol-lamb]

Looks like I'll head out to get some...also does anyone know if Arm &Hammer Washing Soda is the same as soda ash???? iF so I already have some here!

I'm not sure if your question has been answered, but I will tell you what I learned. Yes, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda is the same, except that it is hydrated somehow (meaning it has water added to it). It's just not as strong as plain soda ash. You can absolutely use it, but you have to use three times more of it than you would plain soda ash. I saw read this on a web site about tie dying. They recommend using 1/2 to 1 cup of plain soda ash to a gallon of water. I used the Arm & Hammer just yesterday even though you did not have to with the kit I purchased at Michaels. I used about 2 cups to 1 1/2 gallons of water. I soaked 4 adult shirts at once and then added another shirt later on. I saw a video on you tube where the girl demonstrating said even if she uses a kit where you don't have to use the soda ash, she still does because it makes the colors more vibrant. Mine came out nice and bright. I used the Tulip Ultimate Kit.

I just unwrapped our shirts about an hour ago and we are pleased with them. We had never tie dyed before. I did one with a mickey head and one without just in case my mickey head one didn't turn out. The mickey head shirt has a smidge more white than I would have liked, but the mickey head turned out perfect so I am thrilled about that because I cared about that the most! I was the only one who tried the mickey head. Those shirts were soaked with dye so I'm surprised they had any white on them!!

 

[carol-lamb]

I just unwrapped our shirts tonight and am washing them. I don't want to put them in the dryer because I don't want them to shrink as they are more fitted shirts. Is it okay just to hang them to dry or does the dryer "set" the dye? I am going to run them through two wash cycles. I also only washed them on cold/cold to prevent more dye from running. Is that okay?

Thanks,

Carol

 

[cfwallen]

You can hang them. The die should not "migrate" unless the shirts are very wet when you hand them.

Carol W.

 

[carol-lamb]

You can hang them. The die should not "migrate" unless the shirts are very wet when you hand them.

Carol W.

I have them hanging right now and since they came out of the washing machine, no water has dripped from them and everything seems fine. I keep going in and looking at my mickey head because I can't believe it turned out go good!!

 

[VBsHustla]

This thread is fantastic, thank you all for sharing! Has anyone made these shirts using only one dye color on each shirt? I think I would prefer to use a different color for each person and stick to one color per shirt, but I'm worried that the Mickey head will not be defined enough if the dye color right next to the head (and throughout the whole shirt) is the same color as the Mickey head. If anyone has used only one dye color, I would love to see pictures!

 

[loveysbydesign]

I'm not sure if your question has been answered, but I will tell you what I learned. Yes, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda is the same, except that it is hydrated somehow (meaning it has water added to it). It's just not as strong as plain soda ash. You can absolutely use it, but you have to use three times more of it than you would plain soda ash. I saw read this on a web site about tie dying. They recommend using 1/2 to 1 cup of plain soda ash to a gallon of water. I used the Arm & Hammer just yesterday even though you did not have to with the kit I purchased at Michaels. I used about 2 cups to 1 1/2 gallons of water. I soaked 4 adult shirts at once and then added another shirt later on. I saw a video on you tube where the girl demonstrating said even if she uses a kit where you don't have to use the soda ash, she still does because it makes the colors more vibrant. Mine came out nice and bright. I used the Tulip Ultimate Kit.

I just unwrapped our shirts about an hour ago and we are pleased with them. We had never tie dyed before. I did one with a mickey head and one without just in case my mickey head one didn't turn out. The mickey head shirt has a smidge more white than I would have liked, but the mickey head turned out perfect so I am thrilled about that because I cared about that the most! I was the only one who tried the mickey head. Those shirts were soaked with dye so I'm surprised they had any white on them!!

Thanks for the info!! Glad to hear yours turned out great!

 

[wheelerkidz3]

This thread is fantastic, thank you all for sharing! Has anyone made these shirts using only one dye color on each shirt? I think I would prefer to use a different color for each person and stick to one color per shirt, but I'm worried that the Mickey head will not be defined enough if the dye color right next to the head (and throughout the whole shirt) is the same color as the Mickey head. If anyone has used only one dye color, I would love to see pictures!

we made them using just an orange dye at halloween a few years ago. we really needed to use more dye...but we were running out of if!! the mickey's came out pretty defined...the rest of the shirt wasn't too tie dyed though! LOL!

 

[carol-lamb]

This thread is fantastic, thank you all for sharing! Has anyone made these shirts using only one dye color on each shirt? I think I would prefer to use a different color for each person and stick to one color per shirt, but I'm worried that the Mickey head will not be defined enough if the dye color right next to the head (and throughout the whole shirt) is the same color as the Mickey head. If anyone has used only one dye color, I would love to see pictures!

I think you could use just one color of dye. You will just need to make sure that there is a good defined white area around the mickey head The way to get the mickey head defined is to make sure you really rubber band the mickey head really good and tight. I would make sure the rubber banded area is at least an inch wide - maybe even a tiny bit more than an inch. The rubber bands keep the dye from seeping through to the mickey head. I used 4 or 5 rubber bands and I had them really tight. I have a real good defined white area around my mickey head. I started my rubber bands right at the dental floss and I went down probably a tiny bit more than an inch. I thought maybe my rubber banded area was too wide, but it wasn't at all. I still think I might have had a couple drips seep under the bands, but because of the width, they were far enough away from the mickey head and I still had plenty of white around it.

Carol

 

[Couturier]

I have them hanging right now and since they came out of the washing machine, no water has dripped from them and everything seems fine. I keep going in and looking at my mickey head because I can't believe it turned out go good!!

Oh I cant wait to see them when they are done! It sounds like you had fun doing them!

Thanks, Dana

 

[Couturier]

we made them using just an orange dye at halloween a few years ago. we really needed to use more dye...but we were running out of if!! the mickey's came out pretty defined...the rest of the shirt wasn't too tie dyed though! LOL!

WOW! I have to say that I love these, and I think this is what I am going to do! We can all have one of our own color, then we can all have one with all the colors! OHHH I cant wait to make LIME GREEN ones!

Thanks for posting the pic!

Dana

 

[cfwallen]

Tie dye round 2 is done. I am leaving them until Wednesday morning to set since I have to work all day tomorrow. These are for DH and I. Wish us luck.

Carol W.

 

[VBsHustla]

we made them using just an orange dye at halloween a few years ago. we really needed to use more dye...but we were running out of if!! the mickey's came out pretty defined...the rest of the shirt wasn't too tie dyed though! LOL!

I love these, thanks for sharing and reassuring me! I'm hoping mine will come out as well as yours did!

 

[lilunsure]

It took me some time, but I have read every post on this thread and seen many wonderful creations and can’t wait to get started and I hope that my shirts turn out as well as many of yours have. I ordered my shirts and scrounged up two 100% cotton shirts from home that stitched the MHs on last night and will use as my testers. I am pumped to give this a try. If my testers come out I want to do several shirts for our upcoming trip in January (I have lots of time to get this right) and I’d like to eventually try several of the methods (swirl, crystal, and bulls-eye).

 

[carol-lamb]

It took me some time, but I have read every post on this thread and seen many wonderful creations and can’t wait to get started and I hope that my shirts turn out as well as many of yours have. I ordered my shirts and scrounged up two 100% cotton shirts from home that stitched the MHs on last night and will use as my testers. I am pumped to give this a try. If my testers come out I want to do several shirts for our upcoming trip in January (I have lots of time to get this right) and I’d like to eventually try several of the methods (swirl, crystal, and bulls-eye).

The key to getting a good well defined mickey head is to really tie the dental floss tight and then rubber band with several rubber bands really really tight and at least an inch wide. The key is to try and keep the dye from seeping underneath the rubber bands. I had a teeny amount seep under, but because I had a pretty wide rubber banded area, there was still plenty of white around my mickey head and it is really well defined.

I started reading the directions for this project a few months ago and even bought the dye back in May and only did the project last weekend!! I just really wanted a nice looking mickey head. I had never tie dyed before. It was fun seeing how our shirts came out. My husband who isn't even going with us on our trip next week, was right in there rinsing out our shirts. He cut the rubber bands and dental floss on my shirt and told me to turn around and not look until he was done. When he told me I could look, I couldn't believe how nice my shirt turned out. I was the only one who did a mickey head shirt in my family.

Have fun and I'm sure your shirts will turn out fine. You have plenty of time to practice, but you just might get a good one on one of your tester shirts!!

 

[lilunsure]

The key to getting a good well defined mickey head is to really tie the dental floss tight and then rubber band with several rubber bands really really tight and at least an inch wide. The key is to try and keep the dye from seeping underneath the rubber bands. I had a teeny amount seep under, but because I had a pretty wide rubber banded area, there was still plenty of white around my mickey head and it is really well defined.

Carol, thanks for the information. I dyed my tester shirts today. Although I had a few rubberbands around the Mickey head I do not think I had enough. I saw some seepage, but I could not tell if it was from dye that droped outside the of the bands when I was dying the shirt. I have them in plastic and will rinse them tomorrow evening. I will try and post pictures this weekend.

Even though I have tye dyed before I found that I did not prep my area well enough this time and that is something I will take better time in doing next time.

lilunsure