Tie Dye: Hit or Miss??

I decided, on a whim at Michael's, that I was going to tie dye with my kids. It was either going to be an epic failure, with kids, furniture and floor covered in dye, or something we'd love and want to do again and again. I could see it going either way. Well, I'm happy to report that the results were better than I hoped and we had lots of (mostly clean) fun doing it. I'll admit that with little ones, you will end up doing most of the work though my kids didn't seem to mind. They were totally interested and curious about the process and eager for the end result. You'll need just a few items before getting started:

T-shirts or other items you plan to dye

Dye- (I recommend buying a kit which includes various colors, bottles, gloves and rubber bands)

Plastic trash bags, a couple old towels or other material to cover work surface

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So to get started, grab your t-shirts or item to be dyed and twist, securing with rubber bands along the way. I used about four rubber bands per shirt, just randomly twisting and banding. Then, fill your dye bottles with water according to directions and squeeze color onto your items. I let the kids choose two colors each. More than that, and it will blend together too much to distinguish the colors. Then let sit in a plastic bag for about an hour to absorb the dye. I just did the whole thing in the plastic bag then tied the top and let sit on my table. After an hour, cut rubber bands and rinse your shirt carefully so as not to get dye on everything around! I did this in my bathtub but an outdoor hose would be perfect too. Rinse until the water runs clear then wash and dry your items. Be sure your tie-dyed items are the only thing in there. The color will run! Once they are dried, they are good to go. I put the shirts in with my regular laundry the next time and nothing bled but you might want to keep them separate the first few washes. Like I said, it takes a little time but the shirts came out so pretty and my kids LOVE wearing them!! This is also perfect if you have something with a stain on it but you can't bear to throw the item out! Try this project today!!