Spray Dyed T-shirts Tutorial!! {Pretty Handy Girl}

We are back for another SUMMER SPECTACULAR  guest post!  Today I am featuring my sweet blog friend, Brittany from Pretty Handy Girl!  I love Brit!  We met through blogging about 5 years ago, and she is a rockstar in my eyes.  What I love about her the most is her huge, generous, loving heart!  She would do anything for anyone.  I am so blessed to have her as a friend!

Today she is sharing a project that would be great to do with the kiddos this summer!

                             Welcome, Brittany!!

 

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Do you have the kids home for summer? Looking for something to do with the children before you pull your hair out? Get them outside and hand them some spray bottles full of RIT dye! This is a fun activity that allows those crazy kids to make their own spray dyed t-shirts. All you need are some spray bottles filled with dye, painter’s tape and blank t-shirts. The results are beautiful and unique!

Hi! I’m Brittany, the DIY tutorial guru over at PrettyHandyGirl.com.

I’m excited to share with you this fun summer project to create with the kids. They were easy and fun to make and certainly a project that you can customize to your style. Best of all, the kiddies get outside and do all the work!

Materials:

• Painter’s Tape
• X-acto knife
• Cutting mat (or plastic cutting board)
• Print out templates
• T-shirt
• Paper grocery bag
• Clothespins
• Clothesline
• Dropcloth
• Spray bottles
• RIT dyes
• Hot water (not boiling)
• 1 tsp. measuring spoon
• Safety eye goggles
• Rubber gloves
• White vinegar

Instructions:

Lay out an 11″ strip of painter’s tape. Then slightly overlap (about 1/8″) another strip next to the first. Continue until you have approximately a letter-sized rectangle.

Cut free hand designs or print out this graphic to use as a template. I used one with stars (you can download my star template by clicking on this link).

Lay the graphic print on top of the tape mask rectangle. Tape the corners of the paper to hold it still during cutting. Use a very sharp x-acto knife to trace and cut through the graphic shapes. Remove any tape that you won’t be using in the mask.

Slide the shirt over a paper grocery bag. This will keep the dye from bleeding through if the back of the shirt gets saturated (notice I didn’t mention “if the front gets saturated.”) Let your child place the tape masks on their shirts. Or assist them if you want some measure of control over the final product.

Heat a pot of water until it is hot, but not boiling. Pour 1 tsp or more of dye and 1 cup of hot water into each spray bottle. Screw on the lid and swirl the dye to mix. You may need to experiment and add more dye depending on the color intensity you desire. (Remember the shirts will always look darker when wet.) Make sure your plastic spray bottles will withstand the heat before carrying them outside (that would be a huge mistake if they melted and leaked all over your expensive carpet! Then again, if you want a new carpet, go for it!)

Tie the clothesline between two supports and lay out a drop cloth underneath. Use clothespins to pin the paper bags to the line. If you pin the shirts, make sure to move the clothespins to spray underneath them. Outfit the kids with eye goggles, rubber gloves, and old clothes. Hand them the spray bottles and step back while they have fun!

That’s my resourceful 6 year old using two bottles at once.

They had so much fun that they even decorated the backs!

Let the shirts hang on the line until they are not dripping anymore. About 30 minutes.

After the dye has been on the shirts for at least 30 minutes, rinse them out. It’s a good idea to use water and vinegar mix to help set the dyes.

Wash the shirts separately and dry them in the dryer. When you take them out, watch the kids grab them and put them on faster than you can say “heat wave”.

Our shirts definitely turned out lighter than they looked while wet. The red looks a little fushia, but my boys think that real men wear pink and I tend to agree ;-).

I am in love with the results and might just have to make one for myself now.

The star shirts would make great 4th of July or Memorial Day outfits.

How fun to have a shirt with your monogram on it. Wearing it is bound to make your child feel like a superhero!

If you want to see my video for fixing some of the bleed, watch here:

Have a happy rest of your summer!

P.s. Have any questions about the tutorial? You might want to watch the video to see how we made our spray shirts. I need to warn you, my boys decided to get a tad crazy silly during the taping: