tie dye shirts, wew that is a long thread--? for those who have made them

[Arkiegirl]

I have now spend hours on this computer reading the homemade shirts thread. I am still a little confused on the tie dye one and would like to ask some more ?'s before I jump into this.

After you "sew" the outline and pull it tight--you have a pouch on the outside--say you are holding that pouch adn the rest of the tee is dangling, how do you fold it from there, do you let the sleeves just fall in

to get the white outline around the mickey, do you band it just below the thread, on the thread?

when you are squirting the dye on, do you make sure it goes all the way thru the folds in sections?

Never done this, like the idea

 

[kimisabella]

When you are making the tye dye shirts, after you sew the mickey and have the "pouch" on the outside, I put the rubber bands right on top of the area that you sewed, I used about 8-10 rubber bands, depending on how much white area you want around the mickey head. The wet shirt lets the color bleed, so you have to put alot of rubber bands, tightly, around the "pouch" so you have the white area. For the rest of the shirt, you can lay it down and fold it up like an accordian. You just start at one sleeve, keep folding, like you are making a paper fan, until you get to the other sleeve. When you have a long snake-like shape, rubber band the shirt every so often depending on how many colors you want on the shirt - again, you can use several rubber bands on each section, very tight, so there is some white aread between the colors. When you squirt on the dye, you can either make sure it gets into all the folds, or not - depending on how you want the shirt to look. Making sure you get all the dye in the folds, will make a more uniformed color, but it also looks nice when it is not uniformly one color.
HTH - have fun!!

 

[Arkiegirl]

So when you lay the shirt down, then fold it like an accordian, where will the "pouch" be? Sticking out from the middle of the "snake" while it is laying down? (If so, the folds would basically be behind, or underneath, the pouch when it is laying down)

And another stupid question--when you say you used 8-10 bands, was that to make it tighter or wider? I understand that it needs to be tight but does it also need to be the width of 8-10 tight bands?

 

[ceecee]

I want to know if when you make the mickey head with basting stitch do you go through both layers of the shirt or just do the front.

 

[scoutsmom99]

ceecee,
If you want the Mickey head to just be on the front of the T-shirt then just stich through the first layer...if you want the mickey head on the front and back then stich through both layers.

 

[kaddjr]

Thanks Arkiegirl for asking these questions. And THANKS kimisabella for explaining it more clearly! I had started mine, got to the folding part and became confused...

 

[kimisabella]

Sorry I wasn't more specific about the folding thing - arkiegirl, you are right, the pouch will be sticking out of the middle of the shirt when you fold it like a snake. Just leave the pouch sticking out and use a dark color when dying it so it stands out more. With the rubber bands - you can use as many rubber bands as you want, I just use 8-10 for the mickey pouch, but I don't use that many for the rest of the shirt. The more rubber bands you have, the more "white" part will be showing of the shirt. If you don't want alot of white, use less rubber bands, but always secure them very tight. If you like a lot of white, use more rubber bands, the rubber bands stop the dye somewhat from bleeding onto the white shirt, so more bands, more white area showing between colors. HTH!!

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

So when you lay the shirt down, then fold it like an accordian, where will the "pouch" be? Sticking out from the middle of the "snake" while it is laying down? (If so, the folds would basically be behind, or underneath, the pouch when it is laying down)

We did the Mickey on both sides. The "pouches" were on the ends of the snake. the folds were in the middle of the pouches. These are really fun to make, I hope you all have fun.

 

[JujiD]

I have a few tips about tye dying.

Make sure you squeeze out the shirt really well after soaking in the soda ash. It prevents the color from bleeding as much.

When you put the color on, put colors next to each other that will mix together well, in case they do bleed together. Ex. blue and yellow next to each other will make green, but purple and yellow will make brown (not too pretty, had to trash that shirt).

Start with lighter colors first then go to the darker colors.

I do the Mickey part last and wrap it in plastic separately so no other color transfers onto it while it's setting. (Unless of course you want it to)

One last thing, you don't have to use a traditional t-shirt. I used girls undershirts that come 3 in a package, much cooler for hot weather not to mention cheaper. I also used camisol tops from Old Navy but not until I had alot of practice on the chaep shirts first.

Have fun, and don't worry, they're tye dye , they're not supposed to look perfect.

 

[Daisy&Donald]

I'm confused on the basting...when you are sewing around mickey's head do you
sew around each ear or just the outline of his head? also, when putting on the rubberbands do you wrap each ear or just the entire head?

 

[zurgswife]

I'm confused on the basting...when you are sewing around mickey's head do you
sew around each ear or just the outline of his head? also, when putting on the rubberbands do you wrap each ear or just the entire head?

You baste the outline of the head and the ears. When you pull them tight it will form a pouch..it is at that point you put the rubberbands around the tightened area that is formed by the basting stitch, the base of the pouch.

 

[Daisy&Donald]

So, you will have 3 pouches after you cinch the head?

 

[bjkj]

Thanks for being so patient answering everyone's questions. It has been so helpful! I have read everything and we are ready to make ours! Woo Hoo!!!!

 

[Nank]

I just did 2 shirts this week. I COULD NOT keep the white mickey head in the center. The color got on there immediately. Even after I wrapped the "pouch" in plastic wrap, color STILL Got in there. I went back and made the inside head purple and they still came out great.

I want to post a picture, but how do I do that? Where is the option at the bottom?

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

You should only have 1 pouch per Mickey head when you cinch them, at least thats what we had. You dont need to go all the way around each ear(in a complete circle) Where the ear "connects" to the head you dont need to baste. This is probably going to really confuse you, its hard to type what I want to say LOL!

 

[ksjayhawkfan]

I want to post a picture, but how do I do that? Where is the option at the bottom?

If you click on "go Advanced" by the submit post button it will take you to a screen. And at the top of the white box there is a little icon that is yellow and it has mountians on it. Click that and you can insert you pictures.

 

[Nank]

Sorry, i can't figure it out. It is so easy on another BB I go to and has the option right at the bottom.

Anyway, I have one more shirt to do and I hope to fold that one better and keep the Mickey head white. Not sure if it will work.

 

[disneyxo]

This is a great thread! Can't wait to make ours!

 

[Daisy&Donald]

Thanks sooooooooo much ksjayhawkfan!!! I finally get it!!!

 

[cindy98510]

simply spray is much easier than tie dye....instead of wasting time trying to figure out folds, just twist and spray...you could do this to a shirt you already have that's old and make it look new.... go to simplyspray