Sharpie Tie-Dye T-Shirt

Kids have fun making these shirts!! You could use this process on towels, pillow cases... anything really.

 

What you need: 

• a light colored shirt
• sharpie markers
• plastic cup
• rubber band
• rubbing alcohol
• hair dyer (optional) 

 

Place the cup between the shirt and use the rubber band to secure the shirt to the cup. (ah-ha moment... I bet cookie cutters would work cool too if you wanted shapes other than circles!)

 

Color the area with markers (any design you want, random or images) and pour some rubbing alcohol on the area. Watch as the colors bleed together creating a tie-dye effect. Lighter colors bleed better than darker colors. You can use a few drops or a lot depending on the look you want.

 

Using the hair dryer, dry the rubbing alcohol before moving your cup to another spot to avoid bleeding through the back side. Move your cup to another spot on your shirt and repeat the process.

 

You're done whenever you want to be done. We made ours in the shape of an "L" and then added "ina" for LINA.

 

Toss in the dryer for 30 min on high to help set the colors. Also you can try soaking in vinegar and cold water to set colors before washing. Wash in cold water by itself for the first wash. Colors may still fade some. 

 

Happy Creating!

***Update***
These are fun shirts to make but the colors fade fast in the wash. I tried to soak the shirts in vinegar to set the colors and I even tried to set the colors by putting them in the drier on HIGH heat for about an hour, but they still fade. Good news is that you can use the same shirt to do the project again and again! Remember to also wash with like colors... we don't want pink socks that were supposed to be white. ;)