Indigo Shibori Tie Dye

 

I’ve always been obsessed with tie dye, all the way back in the early days of high school I was turning every white piece of clothing I could get my hands on into a crazy, fun, rainbow mess! So I was overjoyed when indigo shibori dying started to come into style. It’s like a classier version of the thing I always loved, so I’ll take that as permission to decorate my whole house with it… and our wedding… etc!

The process is super easy and only takes a couple hours. The hard part is figuring out what prints you want and how to fold your fabric to achieve the desired results. I can help with that!

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For an uneven square print, with some light spots and some dark spots, fold your fabric in half, half again, and again until it’s too small to keep folding. Use string or rubber bands to hold it in place.

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The triangle version of the one above. Fold the fabric diagonally in half, again and again until it’s as small as you can get it, then wrap with string or rubber band to secure.

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These small start bursts my favorite! The pattern really features the gorgeous, deep blue color while still having the dramatic tie dye effect. Use rubber bands to tie off small circles of fabric.

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The classic tie dye look! Grab the fabric by the spot you want at the center of your large burst. Use a rubber band or string to tie down from the point. The further down you tie, the larger the circle would be. I like the offset look so I usually do at least 2 on one piece of fabric.

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This is a classic shibori technique, and a really fun departure from your classic tie dye print. Roll your fabric around a tube – the one I used is a scrap of PVC. Tie a piece of string tightly at the bottom of the tube, then twist it up to the other end of the fabric. Pinch the fabric down as tightly together as possible – the wrinkles between the strings will soak up the dye, and the valleys will stay white.

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A different take on the square fold, which results in a darker and more even print than the first method. Fold your fabric like a paper fan, until you have a long skinny strip. Do the same horizontally until you have a small cube. Secure in place with string or rubber bands.

Once you’ve got your fabric all tied up, fill a bucket with water and drop your pieces in while you prepare the dye. Follow the instructions on your dye bottle – I used Rit dye in Navy, although I increased the dye to water ratio since I wanted a really intense color. About 1 bottle per 5 gallon bucket of hot water, plus a squirt of dish soap.

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Squeeze out the wet fabric and then add it into the dye bucket, one piece at a time. Make sure you are not wearing clothes you care about, and prepare for your fingers to be blue for a few days! Let it sit for about an hour, then dump and rinse each piece until the water runs clear-ish, wringing and re-soaking as you go. Clip the string/rubber bands and open up each piece of fabric, then hang to dry. Leave for at least a day, two if you can wait that long, before running through the wash. The goal here is to give the dye as much time as possible to really soak in. If you wash too soon, the color will be faded and sad, so hang in there and be patient! Can you tell I’ve learned from antsy experience?

These pieces are part of the gift box project I’m working on, but you can do just about anything with this kind of thing… they make great napkins, table runners, curtains, pet accessories, pillow cases, you name it! Have fun experimenting and let me know how it goes!!