The Three Main Styles

The three styles offered for producing in a bigger quantity will be:

Two-Tone Horizontal

 Two-Tone Vertical

Three-ring Circle

The X

I had an idea to bind a shirt diagonally, both directions. Here is the cool result!

 

This shirt is for Andrus Viirg!

Over-dye

After rinsing the last batch in the machine on hot, I thought the temperature of the water was dispersing too much color. Now I believe it is the tossing. This batch, rinsed in the machine only on cold, also went too light, but not as light as the hot wash out. Everything else was the same: the soda ash prep and the dye solution. I wondered if the dye solution changes as it is used or as it sits. Different pigments can get left behind and change the concentration as many shirts are dyed. I don't know if I need to make a fresh batch of blue each time.
To remedy the lightness, I stuck the shirts into an old bucket of Brilliant Blue from another project and let that sit overnight. I rinsed only twice on cold and then soaked it in the fixative.
The two tones of blues makes a neat effect and I'll have to remember that as an option for custom work. I'll call it "over-dying" since a darker color was dyed over a lighter color.

Size Differences

 

Left shirt: x-large youth.

Right shirt: small adult.

Both by Fruit of the Loom.

The adult one is longer and narrower. The knit on the youth is thinner. The adult shirt is a heavy-duty shirt.

Youth Sizes

These are the youth sizes, not that you can tell exactly what the sizes are, but you can tell the difference. The smallest is a child's 2-4, next is a child's small, medium, large and extra-large. The 2-4 size would fit a toddler. That gives you some idea.

Vertical Two-tone Style

3 Ring Circles

These shirts will be the circle style shirts offered for sale with three rings of white. This blue has been enhanced by Photoshop. Rinsing in the machine with only hot water leached out too much color. Next time I'll rinse in cold and then add the fixative.
So many things to learn.

Ladies' Longer Length Shirts

Front of ladies' T-shirts.

The ladies T-shirts have a slightly fitted cut and a more open neckline. The knit is finer, lighter and softer.
The shirts pictured have four rings tied on each circle. The middle was tied with the waxed sinew, the outer ones with cotton twine.

Back of ladies' T-shirts.

Blisters!

Huge puffy blisters formed on the outer sides of fingers four and five. I must tie tight, though. Bandages only lasted through one shirt. I cut scrap paper and wrapped it around my little finger. The bunching of the paper cuts my circulation so I need to take them off every once in a while. You can see I labeled the L and R. I have to remember to pull with all my fingers and not let the string go under the fourth finger.

Trying For White

These were bunched rather than accordion-folded like Sam's shirt. You can see the white portion looks "marbled."

The fun of tie-dying rises from the anticipation of how the dye will take. The middle of the blacks took less dye even though I squeezed that section thoroughly. I like the antiqued and distressed look. It hints at the bare white bark of forest trees.

The Strings

I first bought macrame cord thinking I'd have to wrap less. I pulled the ends as tight as I could. When they got wet, they stretched, however, the width it covered kept the dye from penetrating through.

Next, I bought waxed synthetic sinew. The way it kept together and didn't slip thrilled me. I knew it wouldn't stretch and in my search for quicker tying, didn't wrap a lot. I didn't like the final result though. I like more white in the tied areas.

Reverting back to what I had always used as a Girl Scout and through the years with tie-dying, I bought simple cotton twine. I figured out if I wrap twice around the shirt and pulled, the string didn't slip. I continued that procedure: wrap twice, pull hard.

With the macrame, I made the mistake of cutting the bindings and accidentally cutting into the shirt.

I stopped tying knots and tied bows for easier release. Unwrapping takes forever ...

For Sam & Anu

Ready for tub dying, I ordered Brilliant Blue and Alpine Blue to mix together. These formulas use less dye per gallon but I didn't like each color independently. After several rinsing and a drip dry, I thought the blue was too dark and thought to add more Alpine, but looking at the final dry, I think it's a perfect cornflower blue. I ordered New Black because it is supposed to bleed blue. I thought it would be better than purple or gray. (read the first post) The bleed is a pinkish color and rinses out decently, but the white isn't the original white of the shirt. Next to the blue and black, it appears white enough.

Learning from the last experiment of shielding the white portion with plastic, I cut the end of the bag, made a tube and put it in the middle of a accordion-folded shirt. I tied both ends TIGHT! This time I kept those bindings around the plastic through the initial rinse out, the second rinse out with the other ties undone, and even a hot rinse cycle in the front-loading machine.

I took off the plastic and draped the shirts on the side of the garage utility sink while I rinsed them again. In that few minutes, the white picked up the dye from the blue and black sections. GRRR. I tried to rinse that out. Nope. I put them through three rinse cycles and decided the white portion looked like marble. Ok, I can live with that.

I put 10 shirts in the washer and rinsed twice more on hot, then added Synthrapol, ran a cycle, then added detergent and rinsed until the water was clear.

The white picked up more color ...

Off-white, slightly blue marble.

I made 4-ring circles on the waist of Anu's shirt. I can't wait to see it on her!

For the Ontons

I found small plastic bags at Smart & Final and thought to tie the shirt up in it. The dying worked well, keeping the white portion protected. I rinsed out most of the dye with the bag still tied on, then I did the rinse with all the bindings off, including the white section. It picked up dye quickly even though it hadn't been pre-conditioned in soda ash. I put it in the front-loading washing machine on the general wash setting and let the whole cycle finish. Mistake. The white became dingy. I should have run rinse cycles before the wash cycle. Since the front-loading machine uses less water, the shirt was being tossed in its own dye.

I tried to bleach the bottom white section. The dingy grey turned mauve, of all colors. I washed it on hot, but to no avail. I re-dyed it in the blue, but without soda ash prep. It finished a lighter shade of blue. I gave it to Aare Onton.

For the black, I used the Hot Black and wanted to see if putting it in the microwave would make a difference. The black dye spread past the bindings in the heat. I can't tell if the finished effect is blacker black since I didn't save the previous, non-heated attempts. I won't microwave again because of the color expansion.

I applied the dye with a bottle, rather than dunking it in a dye bath, for a mottled effect.

I made this shirt for Aare's wife, Judy. I used two shades: electric blue and alpine blue.

 

The First Blue Black White Shirts

I love tie dying and wanted to make shirts for Ingrid and her daughter, Ellie. I looked at the colors on Dharma Trading Co. Black? Which black? Without seeing the link that describe the different blacks, I ordered Hot Black 275 and Black 39. I sent the link to Ingrid and she thought Cerulean Blue 23 was the closest to the Estonian flag. I ordered several other blues to compare.

Keeping white? Nearly impossible! From touching the white part of the shirt with dye already on my hands, to the wash out process, keeping white turned out to be an illusive dream. So, I stuck the tainted white into more blue.

Cutting the strings on Ingrid's shirt, the purple bleed out on the black disappointed me. Oh well. Live and learn, right? That was the Black 39. The Hot Black processed nicely without needing heat. My garage temperature stayed cool, near 68 F. But, the bleed from the Hot Black was gray. Not too bad, I guess.

I forgot to take pictures, so these are what Ingrid sent.
Ellie, of course, can make anything cute! I made her a peasant shirt with cerulean blue and a ruffle dress with alpine blue. The blues in Ingrid's shirt are: azure, electric and peacock.

Upon presenting the shirts to Ingrid, she suggested I offer them at the Estonian Christmas Market ...