I was thinking that a good project to do in the holidays is tie-dying an old white or light coloured T-shirt that is worn out or stained. You can give it a new lease of life by painting it.
You need some fabric paint, old plastic cool drink bottles – with their lids plus a few extra lids, and an old plastic container (like a margarine tub or something), medium sized elastic bands, water, a garbage bag and 4 stones (or something heavy to anchor the bag on the grass).
Maybe it’s best to experiment first with an old pillowcase or something – just until you get the hang of it. Also, it’s fun to team up with some of your friends and get them to buy different colours of fabric paint – that way you can all share.
Take a few teaspoonful’s of one colour of fabric paint and put it in the old container. Add about half a glass of water. Mix it up well. Carefully pour it into one of the cool drink bottles – if there is still paint left in the bottom of the container – add a bit more water, swish it around and add it to the bottle. Put the lid on the bottle and give it a good shake.
For each different colour of paint – make a separate bottle. Be careful to wash out the container that you mix in each time – otherwise you’ll mix your colours up.
Take the extra lids and make little holes in them – using a nail or something sharp. Replace the whole lids with the holey ones.
Take the item you want to dye, grab a small handful of the fabric and put an elastic band around it. A bit like you are giving your t-shirt a pony tail. Do that all over the shirt – make lots of pony tails.
Spread the black bag on the floor (outside of course, and make sure you are wearing old clothes) put your item down and sprinkle it with colour from a bottle. Smoosh the paint in with your hands (this is the fun part). Add more colours if you want to.
Replace the holey lids with whole lids when you are finished. You can use leftover paint again.
Hang the t-shirt on the line to dry. Wait until it is properly dry before taking off the rubber bands.
Make sure you iron the T-shirt before you wear it – the heat sets the paint so that it does not wash out.
Have fun. Send me pictures if you want to.
Sibo
For more details and pictures visit my other blog.