Arts and Crafts **Tie Dye Mickey ears shirts directions**NEW NEW PICS LAST PAGE**

[Goofygirl17]

I love these shirts! I made some a couple of years ago following the original directions. I got more white than I wanted so I know I need to get more dye in the folds.

How do you get the spiral effect? I followed the original directions and got sections of color- not a spiral.

Thanks!

Also- where do you all find the 100% cotton shirts? I used a dye kit from Walmart or Michaels. Is there better dye to use for more vibrant colors?

 

[PixieDust32]

Hi, if you twisted the shirt like on the directions you will get the spiral effect, just twist it clockwise, then add the colors like a pizza slices. The dye from tulip is not as good as the fabric reactive dye, the dy i use is from dharma and also from jacquart. I also 'urea' (organic nitrogent) you mix the urea with hot water and use that water to mix the dye. Also the most important step is soaking the shirts with soda ash (sodium carbonate) before the dyeing process. You can find 100% shirts at wal mart, target and online, i like jifftyshirts.com, fruit of the loom, hanes are great, also gildan,jerzees, but make sure they are 100% cotton.

 

[MomPOM]

Well, we dyed our shirts today. We'll see how they turn out!

 

[PixieDust32]

Alright! Cannot wait to see.

 

[MomPOM]

I love your sweat****, btw Pixie! I might consider making one for the trip.

Btw, I totally screwed up making this batch of shirts. I forgot to baste before putting them in the soda ash. We basted it after but it was really a pain to do it. I also didn't have a fabric marker so I used one of my son's washable markers. We'll see how that turns out. LOL

Btw, what do you do with the leftover dye in your bottles? Do you just dump it or is it okay to keep them for future use?

 

[PixieDust32]

Ohh no! I bet it was hard that way, hope they turn good. About the dye, it depends on what kind of dye, the tulip dye fades away after a couple of hours, therefore is no good to keep it. The dyes i use if i have left over i keep it for a couple of days only, i don't want to risk messing up a whole shirt with weak dye. I try not to mix more than I need.

 

[MomPOM]

Well, I just dumped this batch but was wondering for the future. I suppose now I can gauge how much I'll need. I use the Dharma dies so not sure how quickly they fade.

 

[PixieDust32]

dharma dye is great, I'd kept dye for about a week but no longer than that. But if you dont need a lot just mix lets say 1/2 of teaspoon of the colors without the * for half of the 4oz water bottle if you only need a little. But dont worry i also dumped dye before.

 

[MomPOM]

Well, my mom's shirt turned out great but mine have entirely too much white showing. My DS's turned out great but the MIckey heads aren't very defined. I'll post pics when they are finished washing and drying and maybe you can give me some tips for the next batch.

Btw, how many times do you wash the shirts before drying them?

 

[PixieDust32]

Hi, oh bummer, i hear that a lot, too much white, next time stick the bottle into to folds. You can define Mickey with a little bleach pen. I just wash the once, then put them in the dryer on low setting.

 

[MomPOM]

I tried the bleach pen but it didn't make any difference. Maybe the pen is too old? I did inject the dye into the folds but i guess I just didn't saturate the shirt nearly enough. I'll give it another shot before our trip in February. At least I don't have to make new ones for my little guy.

 

[PixieDust32]

Oh i see, well you have some time to fix them.

 

[MomPOM]

Can I actually fix the ones I've already made or are they a done deal? I was thinking of just making new shirts.

 

[PixieDust32]

well you can fix the ears sometimes if they are not well define but if you dont like they way they turned out the is better to make new ones.

 

[MomPOM]

Another quick question. Do you rinse your shirts before putting them in the wash? I did and it seems like the dye ran and lightly stained the white parts. So it looks kind of dingey. Can you tell I'm not happy with the shirts? LOL

 

[PixieDust32]

Another quick question. Do you rinse your shirts before putting them in the wash? I did and it seems like the dye ran and lightly stained the white parts. So it looks kind of dingey. Can you tell I'm not happy with the shirts? LOL

Oh bummer! I do rinse them under the faucet with warm water, just warm not hot. I let the water run while I remove the rubber bands, then just rinse the shirt with my hands, and then to the washing machine. Then I removed them promptly and put them in the dryer on low heat. If the shirts are little damp I just hang them to air dry.
Do not let me sit wet in the washing machine or the colors would stain the other colors. I use syntrapol detergent, it removes the extra dye that didn't reacted all the way, and also dye that had traveled to other areas. But if you don't have it is fine, use cheer or Clorox detergent, those are great with colors.

 

[sskem96]

I just dyed my shirts last night, and we leave tomorrow morning! We're going to wash them this afternoon when the kids get home from school. I hope they turn out ok!

 

[PixieDust32]

I just dyed my shirts last night, and we leave tomorrow morning! We're going to wash them this afternoon when the kids get home from school. I hope they turn out ok!

Cool! I wish we could go too

 

[PixieDust32]

bump

 

[wdisneyaholic]

Hi PixieDust32,

Just came across this thread, LOVE IT!! I would like to make these shirts but I dont know what supplies to but. What is the wash stuff you soak them in? I dont even know what type of dye to buy, is it like rit? I would appreciate your help. I have never done any tye dye stuff.

Thanks!!