This season, tie dye has made yet another comeback. However this time, it has a twist. The well known and loved vibrant, multicoloured tie dye patterns are being replaced with more muted pastels and simple designs. And although I am a die hard (pun intended) fan of traditional tie dye, this pastel vibe has been speaking to me.
So long story short, I came across a few pastel tie dye sweat sets and sweaters selling online for a lot more than I was expecting. Sweaters retailed from $50-70 and sets varied from $80-145. As someone who has grown up tie dyeing each summer since kindergarten, I felt a little ripped off. Obviously I could make that, and for a lot cheaper.
I know I know, there’s a whole lot of people out there who rather cough up an extra $30 to pay for a sweater than to actually go out of their way to make it. But in this case, I promise that the extra effort is so worth it, because it’s really not that much work and you get to specially customize your colours and patterns to your liking! It’s also a great project to do with your friends or kids!
A Note on the Dye
For this process, I chose to use RIT dye. No, this post is not sponsored by RIT, their brand just ended up catching my eye for a few reasons. First of all, their colours look more aesthetically pleasing for pastel tones and don’t leave your clothing looking like a summer camp project you made when you were ten.
RIT’s website is also super detail oriented and user friendly. Check it out before purchasing your dye to find a dye recipe that matches the colour you want! Make sure you’re searching for formulas that use RIT dyemore for synthetics, because most crewnecks I found were more than 35% synthetic fibres (i.e. polyester, spandex, etc) and therefore need dye meant for synthetic fibres.
Unless you plan on dying something that is 100% cotton or other natural fibres, you most likely will need to use this method. As for the method itself, it’s pretty straightforward. Synthetic dye needs to be heated up in order to be activated, so you simply add the dye or dye formula you chose to hot water and ladle that onto your tied up clothing. Then for good measure, I pop my dyed clothing into the dryer after it air dries completely to set the dye in a second time.
Lastly, I used RIT’s dye fixative (I got all of my supplies at Michael’s) in the washing machine to set the dye in again and prevent fading. Tie dye naturally fades over time, so putting in a few extra steps to prolong the life of your colour is totally worth it!
Mixing Crafts With Cookware
So for this project, you’ll need to mix your dye in a pot of hot water. You can either mix it directly in the pot you heated up water from on the stove, or you can transfer your hot water to a bowl or bucket you don’t mind tossing out. I ended up using a pot I have on hand for crafts like this, since I do stuff like this pretty frequently.
Personally, I don’t really see a problem using my cookware for this project since its stainless steel and can be washed. However if you’re feeling iffy about it, I suggest going to the thrift store and thrifting some old utensils for DIY sake, or just getting some budget ones from the dollar store. The only things you will really need are a ladle, pot, and a spoon for measuring.
So I’ll cut this intro short and get right into it. Bottom line is this is EASY and you should make it. Also if reading is not your thing, check out my YouTube tutorial here!
Materials
- RIT dyemore (for synthetics)
- RIT dye fixative
- White crewneck/sweater or other white clothing (I got mine from Gildan)
- rubber bands
- garbage bags or plastic table cloth (to protect surfaces)
- pot
- ladle
- dish soap
- rimmed baking sheet (to prevent dye from spilling out)
The Process
- Wash your sweater/clothing items in the washing machine to dampen them (or sparingly spray with a spray bottle). Once your sweater is damp but not dripping, use the elastic bands to tie the sweater into your desired pattern. The most common patterns for pastel tie dye are the swirl and the scrunch technique. For the standard spiral technique, I twisted my shirt from the middle to create a circle. Here is a great post explaining the different types of techniques in more detail that I think is worth checking out. For the splotchy sweaters and for the shorts, I simply bunched the fabric into a ball and then tied it together with elastic bands.
- Bring one litre of water to just below a simmer (use 1L for a crewneck, 2L for sweat set). Once the water is hot, add in one small squirt (about 1/2 tsp) of dish soap to the water. Continue heating the water until it is at a simmer. Don’t let it boil.
- Prep your work space by layering garbage bags or a plastic table cloth over your dying surface to protect it from permanent stains. Place the tied sweatshirt onto the rimmed baking sheet (you can optionally wrap it in a garbage bag if you are concerned about dye on your cook ware).
- Once the water is simmering, remove it from the heat. Here, you can add your dye. How much dye you add depends on the colour of dye or dye formula you are using. I used about 4 tablespoons of Super Pink to 2L of water yield the results on my pastel pink set. Regardless if you are mixing several colours or just using one, use the ladle to drop a tiny drop of mixed dye on a discreet part of your tied sweater (like the sleeve) to ensure you mixed a colour of your liking.
- Once you reached a colour you’re happy with, use a ladle to carefully pour your hot dye water onto your fabric. Make sure all the white is covered, but be careful to not saturate the fabric too much by over-pouring the same spot multiple times. The more times you ladle dye onto the fabric, the less white space you will have. I usually aim to do one pass (or pour) of dye over all of the exposed white parts of my sweater, and then a few pours down the centre for good measure. If you use the scrunch technique and you’re still seeing a lot of white space after unraveling your sweater,, you can always add more dye by re-scrunching the sweater and continuing the dye process.
- Before unraveling your clothing, prep a place for the fabric to lay flat on to dry. This can be on a tarp in a garage or on the lawn in the sun on a hot day. If you do decide to dry your clothing outside, bring it in before night time so that the morning dew doesn’t ruin the results.
- Unravel your clothing and lay it flat to dry, making sure to flip it every few hours. Once the clothing is 100% dry, set the dye by placing the dry clothing into the dryer on the highest heat your fabric allows, for about 20-30 minutes.
- After the dye has been set, follow the directions on the RIT dye fixative to set your dye one last time. I used the washing machine method and simply popped my tie dye into my washing machine and poured the dye fixative where the laundry detergent usually goes. I used just over 1/3 bottle per sweat set and a little less for a lone sweater.
- And that’s it! Like all tie dye, a little bit of fading with wear is normal. Take extra care to prolong the life of your funky new clothing by washing it in cold water with like colours.
Notes
- If tie dying multiple pieces of clothing different colours, complete the setting process separately (put them in the dryer and washing machine separately) so that they do not bleed into each other.
- I got my sweat shorts from amazon. They didn’t quite qualify for use of synthetic dye since they’re only 20% polyester, but it worked out just fine and they’re still holding their colour a ton of washes later!
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