Natural Tie-Dye Fun!

Let’s be honest, we could all use a little more color in our wardrobe, especially come spring and summer. Your kids will jump at the chance to create their own designs on their clothes. Who doesn’t love a little tie-dye? Here’s how to use ingredients you have at home to make matching natural tie-dye shirts for the whole family! 

Here’s what you’ll need:

White shirts or any other clothing item you’d like to tie-dye (maybe a headband or some socks)

Rubber bands

Vinnegar

A large pot

There are plenty of plants, veggies, fruits, and spices you can use to dye fabric. We suggest these:

Carrots for orange dye

Beets for red dye

Red Cabbage for purple dye

Let’s Get Down to Business

1. First, create a fixing agent with four parts water, one part vinegar. A fixative can help natural dyes set into your fabric. Place the items you want to tie-dye in the mixture to simmer for an hour. If you’re like us and want to make the most of tie-dying, you might need more than one pot so you have enough space for all of your clothing items.
2. While you’re waiting, help your kids chop up your beets and cabbage and shred your carrots. The more of each ingredient you have, the darker your fabric color will be. If you’re not sure how much of each ingredient you’ll need, for every one part of ingredient, add two parts water. Place water and ingredients into a pot (use separate pots for each color).
3. Once your clothing has finished in the fixative, drain the mixture and run each piece under cool water.
4. Here’s where the fun starts! Give your kids rubber bands and let them go wild twisting and tying their fabric in different spots.
1. Tip: Check each of their rubber bands when they’re done. In order for the tie-dye to work properly, the rubber bands need to be tight!
5. Let your kids choose which color they would like to die their fabric and place their item in that pot. Simmer all clothes for two hours. Then turn the heat off and let the clothes sit until they reach room temperature.
6. Squeeze each item carefully to get rid of extra dye. Then, run them under cool water.
7. Finally, let your kids remove the rubber bands from the fabric and watch as they reveal their new favorite t-shirt.

Remember, natural dyes tend to dry lighter. Don’t forget to launder these clothes separately in cold water with BETTER LIFE Laundry Detergent before wearing! Once they’re ready to wear, snap an OOTD (outfit of the day) pic with the whole family and share it to our Facebook page!