Can you believe that I have never tie dyed a shirt before? It was always something I wanted to do but just never got around to it. Then I finally decided to give it a shot and was going to do a heart tie dye pattern, when I thought hey it is Halloween why not try to do a pumpkin. I mean if you can tie dye a heart shape why not a pumpkin right? And I have to say I really LOVE how it turned out. And my daughter is super proud of her creation!
I did learn a few things though; the shirt above is actually our 2nd shirt. Our first one had a LOT more white on it. You really need to soak the shirt with the dye because it is hard to get it in all the nooks and crannies and the more die you apply the more likely the color will soak through.
Another great tie dye tip we learned is not to worry so much about the die mixture. The die packs say it makes 3 gallons but you do not need to make that much. Just boil water, pour the water in your squirt bottle then add die till you are happy with the color.
The most important thing to remember when doing Tie Dye is that it is pretty hard to mess it up. The first shirt we did even though it has a lot more white I still like how it came out and think it is pretty cool. So don’t worry if your colors bleed between the rubber bands (because they will), no matter what happens to the shirt you will end up with an original piece of art that you and your kids can be proud of.
Supplies
White shirt
Washable Marker
Orange Rit Dye
Black Rit Dye
2 Plastic Squeeze bottles
Rubber Bands
Rubber Gloves
Brown Fabric Paint
Yellow Glow in the Dark Fabric Paint
Directions
The easiest way to mix your dye is to boil water and pour it in to your squeeze bottles. Add some of your powered dye to the bottle. I did not measure; I just poured it in till I liked the color. Let the dye sit in the bottles to dissolve while you get your shirt ready.
Start with a washed slightly damp white shirt. Fold it in half length wise.
Draw a half pumpkin shape on the crease of the shirt with your washable marker. (If you cannot free hand it, then you can print out a good picture from doing a Google search for pumpkins, that way you can get the exact shape you want!).
Start pinching the shirt on the line you just drew. You want to follow the link all the way around and keep the line straight while doing it. (Feel free to move the rest of the shirt around to make it easy for you).
Once done make sure your line is straight then rubber band the shirt starting with that line (this will be your pumpkin when done).
Color your shirt starting with orange then black and keep switching off with each rubber banded section.
Leave your shirt somewhere to dry for about 4 to 24 hours (We did one at 4 hours and one at 7, the colors were much brighter on the one we left for 7 hours).
When you have left your shirt to dry long enough, rinse it off under cold water then remove the rubber bands. (The shirt on the left is our first one, a little too much white)
Let the shirt dry then put your shirt over a board or place a sheet of paper inside so the paint does not go through to the other side then trace your pumpkin face and stem (if you choose too) onto the center orange section using a washable marker or pencil.
Paint in the face and stem using your brown and glow in the dark yellow paint. Leave lying flat for at least 24 hours to dry. You should wait another 24 hours before you wash the shirt.
Once washed and dried wear your shirt and impress all your friends with how talented you are for making a Jack O Lantern Tie Dyed Shirt!
And if you choose to use the glow in the dark paint like we did then when you go out at night your Jack O Lantern will really GLOW!
