My 3 Monsters: DIY Sharpie Tie Dye Team Shirts

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1.25.2014

DIY Sharpie Tie Dye Team Shirts

Hi guys!!  Are you sooooo excited about the Big Game next weekend?!  Me neither, but my family is {both near and far} so I'm really trying to get on board.  We have avid fans on both sides, so this game should be lots of fun . . . for them.  I thought maybe if I could craft something sports-team-related it would get me into the mood.

Super Bowl Crafts:  Sharpie Tie Dye Team Shirts at /

I'm loving the Sharpie Tie Dye process lately!  It's super easy, so anyone at any skill-level can have success with it.  I thought it might be fun to try and amp-up this project by using a resist technique to create a team logo in the middle of the dye and it worked like a charm!!  I'll be predominantly showing you how to make the Bronco shirt because the fans closest to me {the ones living in my house} favor Colorado, but I'll show you my Seahawk shirt, too, and give you some specific tips for that one at the end.

You will need:

 inexpensive t-shirts {100% cotton work best}
Sharpie markers
rubbing alcohol (91% solution -- I got mine at Target pharmacy, but I imagine it's available most anywhere}
eye droppers or spray bottles
plastic garbage bags to put between the layers of your shirt to prevent bleed-through

Optional for team logos:  freezer paper, Xacto knife, an iron, blue gel glue and/or white craft paint


For very basic Sharpie Tie Dye,  just color a simple design onto your shirt then spray it with alcohol and watch the magic happen.  Leave a little space between your colors so they have room to spread without getting "muddy". If you want to add a logo here's how it's done:
How to create tie dye t-shirts with Sharpie markers at /
Step 1:  Use a  freezer paper stencil** with blue gel glue to create a resist pattern on the plain white t-shirt before coloring them.  Wherever the glue is, it will resist the spreading ink, leaving you with a white pattern in the middle of your tie dyed area.  Create a freezer paper stencil and paint a fairly thick, even layer of the glue on top.  {You must use the gel glue for this to work.}  Let it set up for several minutes, then carefully remove the stencil and discard it.  The glue will still be wet at this point.  Set it aside for several hours to dry or use a blow dryer set on the highest heat setting to help it along.  Just make sure it is completely dry before moving on to step 2. 

{**You'll find a great tutorial on using freezer paper stencils here at The Alison Show, if you're unfamiliar with the process.}

How to create tie dye t-shirts with Sharpie markers at /
Step 2:  Place a plastic garbage bag in between the layers of your t-shirt to prevent bleed-through.  Make sure to get it into the sleeves, too.  Using Sharpie markers, draw a design onto your shirt.  Avoid drawing on top of the glued area.  It's OK if you get a little bit on there, but don't go crazy!  I chose to create stripes, leaving about 1 inch in between for the colors to bleed.  You could draw spirals or flowers or clusters of tiny dots -- whatever you like.

I found it helpful to practice a little bit on a paper towel by drawing the design I had in mind and spritzing it with alcohol to see how it would spread out.  The colors change a little bit once they spread so it's nice to make sure you like it before you mess up a shirt.  Ask me how I know that ... For instance, I learned that the normal Orange Sharpie turned really pink when it bled, so I used a light layer of normal orange and drew another light layer of yellow orange on top of it to counteract that effect. Also, the blue inks spread a lot more than the lighter colors for some reason.

How to create tie dye t-shirts with Sharpie markers at /
Step 3:  Add alcohol and watch the colors spread!  Open your windows because the smell gets pretty intense.  I started out using a spray bottle, but that broke halfway through so I dropped the alcohol from an eye dropper to finish up.  Both methods worked great, but I think I had a little more control of the spread with the eye dropper.  I found that the the ink bled down toward the bottom of the shirt much more that it bled toward the collar even though it was laying flat on a table.  The colors will only spread as far as the fabric gets wet so avoid spraying any area you don't want color on {like the sleeves}.  Be careful not to use too much alcohol.  This is what happens if you get a little out of control with it:

How to create tie dye t-shirts with Sharpie markers at /
Allow the shirt to dry completely.

Step 4:  Rinse the logo under warm water to remove all the glue.  Throw the t-shirt into the dryer to dry then heat set the ink with a hot iron.

How to create tie dye t-shirts with Sharpie markers at / On the Seahawk shirt, the logo didn't turn out very well using the resist technique.  I don't know if it was because it was a colored shirt or if I just didn't let the ink spread enough.  Either way, I wanted to emphasize the logo a little more so after the shirt was dry I used a freezer paper stencil with white fabric paint and it looks great now.

These shirts are color-safe and machine washable.  Come back Monday to see how I will be using my Sharpie Tie Dyed team shirts to throw the best ever Game Day Party the whole family will enjoy!


1 comment:

  1. I am curious where you got the team logos in simplified forms to make the stencil with? Any hints???

    ReplyDelete

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