Published Date April 14, 2020
Brighten your day with rainbow-colored tie dye! It's the perfect way to spread some extra cheer whether you're walking past your sibs in the living room or walking your dog through the neighborhood. If you haven't discovered this already, tie dye is a super fun activity, there's no wrong way to do it, and you can seriously grab an old T-shirt or hoodie from your closet and give it new life with bold colors and tie-dye patterns. Pick up your favorite Tulip Tie-Dye Kit and follow the rainbow this way to discover 6 ways to make tie-dye magic!
- Tulip Tie-Dye Kit of choice
- 100% cotton T-shirt, hoodie, tank top or denim shorts
- Disposable plastic table cover
A lot of the country is still bundling up from winter chills at the moment, so a cozy hoodie is the perfect way to stay warm while lounging in style. A rainbow stripe tie-dye pattern across the front will add some sunshine to your day, even if it's blustery outside. To achieve this more abstract effect, get your hoodie extra damp before dyeing, and don't wrap your rubber bands as tightly around the fabric. You can even skip binding with the rubber bands and squeeze on the dyes right into one another so they lightly blend. Have fun and experiment with it!
And here's one more hoodie in case you want to try a different tie-dye technique on your loungewear than the stripe technique we mentioned above. The spiral tie-dye pattern is so easy to create, and is awesome for working with a lot of dye colors (although you could just stick to one color if you really want to). To create this kind of effect with a lot of white space in between colors, make sure your hoodie is less damp, and leave undyed white space between your rubber bands. If you want a ton of bold color though, apply that dye all the way to the bands and make sure to really saturate your fabric!
Summer is just around the corner, and that means shorts season will be in full effect. (If you're in a warmer state like Cali you might already be wearing shorts!) Give a faded pair of cutoffs new life with outrageously bright tie-dye effects; you can freestyle it (that's the great thing about Tulip One-Step Dyes coming in squeeze bottles) or you can bind the shorts with rubber bands or zip ties to get a specific look. These shorts feature the stripe tie-dye technique in a vertical pattern (so pleating the shorts from waist to bottom edge and evenly spacing zip ties into about 9 sections). It's up to you how many different colored sections you want to try!
The sunburst tie-dye technique sounds perfect for summertime, doesn't it?! Add in super bright rainbow colors and a tank top, and you'll be beaming with cheer whether you're headed to bed or out on a hike. The sunburst might actually be one of the easiest tie-dye techniques ever (we know we say that a lot but we really mean it). For this tank, bind the center with one rubber band and lay the rest of the top out flat. Add one dye color to the bound section and in a triangular shape on a portion of the top. Repeat with other dyes in triangular patterns as shown. Look at you, BURSTING with tie-dye creativity!
Okay one more tank top idea for you, since in addition to just having something cool to wear in the summer, they're also great for working out and for pajamas as well. If you want a true rainbow pattern, the stripe tie-dye technique in a rainbow palette is the way to go. We made our stripes thin for this tank, but feel free to widen them or have your stripes span the entire length of your top. You could even run them diagonally if you want!
Here's a variation of the tank top above, because maybe tank tops aren't your thing, or you also want a T-shirt in a similar style! Feel free to change up your blues (notice we went turquoise in the tank top and used a darker blue shade here). Or maybe add in some fuchsia or violet for an even bolder rainbow effect. Remember, there's no wrong way to tie dye!
