Tie Dye T-Shirts by Nancy , a reader

This is a great summer camp project! Each shirt is an original.

Tie Dyed T-Shirts

Material

T-shirt
Rubber bands
Dye

Instructions

Lay the shirt out flat and grab a small pinch of it in the middle. With this small fingerful, start twisting your hand so the shirt is twisting like a snail. When the whole thing is in a sort of snail pattern (and very tightly coiled) you really need two people to do this next step, take some large rubber bands and start putting them on the shirt to hold this snail shape. You will need three to four rubber bands and when you have finished putting them on the shirt, they should look like and asterisk * or a color wheel. Put your colors of dye in those plastic bottles that you use for hair dye (the ones with the pointed nozzles) and very carefully apply to your shirt using one color between each set of rubber bands. This part is really messy so be sure that everything is covered. Don't be afraid to really soak each section to make sure that you get an optimum amount of color. Leave the shirts in their coils and rubber bands with the dye on for eight hours. Just put each shirt in a plastic bag and let it set. After eight hours, take all the shirts in their bags to the bathtub, undo them and rinse them out until most of the excess dye is down the drain. Then, put them in the washer and wash and dry them and they should be ready to wear.

This pattern will give you a seashell pattern on the front and back of the shirt. If you would prefer a striped motif, lay the shirt out flat and fold it lengthwise accordion style very tightly and apply your rubber bands crosswise so that it looks like a segmented worm. Then apply your colors between the segments and follow the rest of the directions.

Submitted by Nancy