Today I added 4 new pieces to my wardrobe, and 2 new hair accessories, without spending a cent! Recently I have been doing a lot of purging around the house, especially in my closet. It has felt so good to just let go! It has also left me feeling like I don't have enough clothing options (even though I do) and that I NEED to go shopping. Unfortunately I won't be going into any stores anytime soon, and B really has us saving every penny to put back into the house. So what is a girl to do but get crafty!
Here is what you will need to get started:
Old clothes of any color
Bleach
Food coloring
Rubber bands or hair ties
Scissors
A place in your house where you can make a mess
First gather up the clothing you want to use. I used an old black t-shirt, gray t-shirt dress, white tank top, and one of B's old white undershirts. For the Black T and Grey dress I used bleach to achieve the look. The tank, and undershirt I used food coloring. I also cut the seams off the sleeves of the t-shirts and cropped them and the tank at different lengths. It's ok if the edges arent perfect, it's all part of the look! I used the bottom part of the white undershirt to make a headband.
I used the "spiral technique" for all of the pieces. Basically starting in the center you pinch the fabric and spin it around itself in a spiral and secure it with rubber bands. I used hair ties to secure mine so I could have cute tye-dyed hair ties too! Really wish I had some white scrunchies instead! Maybe next time. You can also do multiple spirals or start from different areas on the garment to get different looks. Really it's all about experimentation. You never know how it will turn out until you pull it out of the dryer!
"Tye dying" with bleach is so much fun because you never know what colors are going to come out of the fabric! This method works best with darker color clothing. Spiral and secure the garment and then pour a bunch of bleach over it. I did mine in the sink to contain the bleach. Obviously, it's bleach so be very careful and wear gloves! The fabric will instantly start to change color. Let it set for only a few minutes, no more than 20 or the bleach will eat away the fabric. Carefully remove the rubber bands, machine wash on cold, then dry. Make sure you wash the bleached items by themselves so the bleach doesn't accidentally ruin anything.
Using food coloring to dye is a bit trickier. As you can see below I put ALL of the colors onto the white shirt and headband, but only the pinks, reds, and blues stuck. I got worried because the colors looked like they were all running together and turning icky green/brown, so I rinsed the shirt prematurely. I rinsed after about 15-20 minutes, and I think next time I will wait longer. The tank I absolutely coated in blue food coloring and let soak for 40 minutes. After spiraling and securing the fabric, squeeze the food coloring directly onto the fabric, and let it saturate. Do this in the sink or outside because it makes a mess! The more white you see when the fabric is all scrunched up, the more white will be on the final product. After about 30-60+ minutes rinse with cold water in the sink. Then machine wash cold and dry.
I will definitely be trying this again, I am not going to have any white clothes left! I have also read about using natural ingredients such as fruit and spices to dye clothing, so I really want to try that as well! I will let you know how that turns out :)
If you try this at home please share it with me by adding a picture of the final product/ process on your Instagram or story and tagging me @_sincerelylovely
I would love to see what you create!