Trying to hop on the tie-dye trend without draining your bank account?
THREE LETTERS FOR YOU...D. I. Y.
This might seem like a daunting task if you have no interest in crafting or think that you have limited artistic abilities. Have no fear, this is actually super easy because you use bleach instead of dye, creating a more edgy look. I can't take credit for this process, it's been done countless times on TikTok and IGTV so I wanted to give credit to what we used as inspiration, a Youtube video by Lindy Goodson. I've broken down the steps below to make it (hopefully) easy to follow along.
HAPPY BLEACHING!
Supplies
The first thing that you will need to do is gather your supplies. This project requires only five supplies. First, the main event, the sweatsuit. My friends and I were trying to do this on a budget, so we followed what they did in the video and tried Walmart. Both the sweatshirt and sweatpants totaled under $20 which was nice because we knew that if we failed miserably, we were only out 20 bucks 🤷🏼♀️ If you don't have a Walmart close to you or want other options, I'm sure places like Target, Forever 21 and H&M have sweatsuits that would work. However,
these may contain more processed materials and may not bleach the same way the Walmart ones do so be careful! Next, you will need bleach. We opted for the toilet bowl cleaner kind for two reasons. One, it is less saturated than regular bleach so we had better control over what we dyed and two, it has a nozzle top that gives good control.
Next, you need a pack of rubber bands, get more than you think you will need. And finally, you will need gloves for handling the bleach and finally, a pair of scissors to make adjustments at the end.
Tie it up.
After you have collected your supplies, it's finally time to start! You have probably tie dyed in elementary school or summer camp and remember it being messy and time consuming. The good thing about this is that there is no rhyme or reason in the way you add the rubber bands. We each did different techniques and you will see in the end what smaller and tighter bunches create compared to looser bunches. This part seems complicated but it is literally just grabbing at different sections and tightly rubber banding them until you have done the whole thing. Note: if you like your tie-dye to be more splattered and dispersed, you can leave sections un tied, just be careful when adding the bleach to not saturate those areas.
ADD THE BLEACH & SET A TIMER
This part is really personal preference, but it should be done on the dry fabric. If you want the final product to be half bleached and half regular, go crazy with the bleach. If you want more of a splatter effect still go crazy with the bleach, BUT only on certain areas. Because the bleach is not liquid bleach (it has a gel-like consistency) more is required to get all the color out of certain spots. Depending on the color of your sweatsuit, the bleach will result in an adverse color so make sure you are aware that it won't just be your sweatsuit color and white. In fact, there is likely to be little white in the situation unless you do use real bleach.Once you have added the amount of bleach you please, set a timer for 15 minutes. The video we watched did ten, but we wanted the color to lift more so we did a little over 15. I would start with 10 and continue to wait until you see the color you desire. Note: it should be darker than you desire because after it is washed and dried it will be much lighter.
RINSE & TAKE APART
Once your timer goes off, take your project to the sink, or shower if that's what you are working with, and rise until you see the water start to run clear. It is okay if you can't get all the dye out because you will be washing it after. Next, take out your rubber bands. Do not worry if the colors aren't looking as you expected, this is totally not the final product.
WASH & DRY
Throw your sweatsuit into the washing machine for 30 minutes. Once it comes out of the washer, you should be able to start seeing the coloring the way it will end up. Lastly, throw it into the dryer for about an hour.
TRY ON & ADJUSTMENTS
Almost done! Once it’s dry, try it on. Both cropped sweat suits and oversized sweat suits are in right now, so it is up to you if you want to cut up the sweatshirt. If so, I recommend finding where you want to cut and applying a piece of tape in a straight line. That way, you can follow the line as you cut so you don't go astray.
There you have it! I hope the steps were easy to follow. Even if not, the beauty of this project is that you can be a little careless and still create something cute. I hope you try this out and have some fun with friends on a rainy (or quarantine) day. If you do tag us @thepointmagazine!
Can't wait to see what you create!
Xx, Megan Falvey