Five easy DIY tye dye t-shirt techniques

Tye dye is like the fashion trend that always seems to stay in style. And you don’t have to spend a fortune. Just grab a white t-shirt and try it out. You’ll be surprised how easy it is. Here’s five easy and awesome tye dye t-shirt techniques that you and your kids can do at home today.

My kids modeling their new tye dye t-shirts

I’ve always been intimidated by tye dye projects as if they were too difficult. But when my oldest wanted to do a tye dye t-shirt, I figured let’s give it a try. We had a lot of fun and I realized that it’s super easy! Here’s five different techniques that you can use.

Gather your tye dye t-shirt supplies

The easiest way to start your first tye dye project is to just purchase a kit online. It gives you all of the instructions and it makes it super easy. Here’s what you’ll need:

Fashion Tie Dye Kit (includes dispensers with dye, rubber bands, gloves and instructions)
White cotton t-shirts (make sure you buy them one size too big because they will shrink in the wash)
Garbage bags
Water

tye dye t-shirt — Supplies needed for your tye dye project

Technique #1: Ombre

This is the easiest technique and my favorite. Choose one dye color of your choice and apply a liberal amount on the upper 1/3 of the t-shirt. Make sure there is no white showing. Then, dilute the dye with water and apply more dye on the middle 1/3 of the t-shirt. Finally, leave the bottom 1/3 of the t-shirt white.

Technique #2: Crumple

Crumple is exactly what the name implies. Just crumple the shirt up by starting with a pinch in the middle and slowly add more pinches until it’s a ball. Then add an combination of colors sporadically over the entire t-shirt. Add as little or as much as you want.

Technique #3: Sponging

Fill one end of a clean household sponge with your chosen dye color. Wipe the sponge across the t-shirt or use whatever pattern you would like. Be generous with the dye because it will turn out very light-colored when it dries if you don’t use enough. Dip the other end of the sponge with another color and apply another design if desired.

Technique #4:

Locate on your t-shirt where you want sunbursts. Then, pinch each area and bind with a rubber band. Soak the tip of fabric above the rubber band with dye. Continue this with the other areas. Then soak the remaining areas of the t-shirt with as little or as much dye as you would like with the color of your choosing.

Technique #5: Rainbow swirls

Decide where you want your rainbow swirl to be on the t-shirt. Then pinch the fabric and begin twisting into a flat spiral. You should end up with a clump-like flat ball. Bind it together with three rubber bands creating six wedge shapes. Apply a different color on eat wedge defined by the rubber bands. Be sure to apply the dye deep into the folds.