Tie Dye DIY cover-ups and/or workout shirt

I thought I'd jump back to my younger years for a minute and see what kind of tie dying skills I could bestow upon all those that view this blog of mine. I mean, since I have all the time in the world, said no Mom to an infant...ever, I thought why not throw this fun messy project in the mix! So here's how my new little project turned out, not too bad!

 I tried out a couple different types of white shirts, the far left is a $2.99 shirt from my local craft store, middle is a basic Gerber Onesie and the far right is a Hanes super soft shirt that comes in a 3 pack at Target. So I started by washing them then did a little different of a design for each.

• Left- One spiral (technique pictured at the upper right)
• Middle - Was supposed to be the tiger stripe but ended up being more of just a blend of colors, which I actually really like!
• Right - Double spiral (Double over the fabric then do the same spinning technique as I shown above)

Mix your dye, per the instructions (I used the Tulip brand) and place 3 rubber bands in a start pattern for the spiral shirts (You should then show 6 triangles in which you'll color 2 triangles pink, 2 purple and 2 teal) and then use 3 rubber bands, for the image I got on the onesie just crumple and fold the onesie in half (Watch this tutorial) and put the 3 bands on a couple inches apart and color it as desired. 

For this shirt style, I cut about 2 inches below the bottom of the sleeve and cut quite a bit more up to the shoulder. I kept cutting more and more as I'd try it on after each cut and it kept looking to bulky, so just cut until its the fit you want. I also cut about 2 inches off the collar plus an additional 2 inches at the chest area to make it lower. Then fold JUST THE BACK of the shirt in half and make as many cuts as you want, do them a little shorter at the top and cut longer strips as you go lower down the back. Then just pull them to stretch them out a little. I then made one cut up the bottom right of the shirt and made a little knot so it would fit tighter.

For this style, cut the collar and the sleeves the same as above BUT after you've done that, flip the shirt over so you're looking at the back and cut the back further in than the front so you have the razor back affect. Now cut straight across from left arm hold to right arm hole so the collar is no longer attached. See the picture above. Then cut the left over razor back into 3 pieces, braid it and run it through the sewing machine to keep it together. Take an extra 2 inch piece of fabric from everything you've cut and sew it to the back color that you've just sewn the braid too. Then wrap it around, over and back around to cover up your stitching. I then did a blind hand stitch to hold this fabric in place. Voila! You're done!

I now have a couple of fun tops to wear to the gym, running errands, working in the yard, going to the beach, anything really when you just need to throw on an easy top and you aren't trying to impress anyone :). These will of course be impressive when you make them, but they aren't so much for a nice occasion. :)

Other than dying a couple of my fingers purple, I'd say this was a pretty accident free project. So with that I will recommend to double up on gloves! But if you happen to dye yourself, nail polish remover and a lot of hand washing got the color out.

Good luck!