Making a Green Tie-And-Dye Tee on St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day can be celebrated with kids in a number of exciting ways – fun worksheets, cool activities, DIY St. Patrick’s Day crafts, and mouthwatering recipes! This year when planning the day with your family and friends, try this easy-to-make green tie and dye tee that your little ones can wear to any holiday festivities or kids party in town!

You will need

1. 100-percent-cotton T-shirts
2. Dish tubs or large containers
3. Green fabric dye
4. Salt (1 cup per dye bath)
5. Rubber bands
6. Coins
7. Sealable plastic bags
8. Latex gloves

Directions

1. Make the T-shirt tie-and-dye friendly by washing it well and removing any starch that might have been added during the packaging process.
2. Rinse it next in warm water and wring it well.
3. Place a coin in the center of the tee on the wrong side, near the chest, and tie it up with a rubber band. So, you will have a bump on the tee’s chest if you’ve managed to tie it right.
4. Continue tying more rubber bands below each other, spacing them about one inch apart. Tie as many as you like. The more rubber bands you tie in succession, the denser the circular patterns you’ll create. Now, cover your work station with a plastic table cloth so that you don’t stain it. Wear your gloves while you are about to begin the dying process.
5. Follow the instruction on the dye packet and make your dye. If you don’t have instructions with you, boil 2 liters of water in the dish tub with enough salt and add dye to it. Bring it down to a lukewarm temperature and your homemade dye mixture is ready!
6. Soak the tee in the dye mixture and wring it out. The more water you can wring out, the better the dye will ‘set’.
7. Put the tee in a zip-locked bag overnight for the dye to set in. DO NOT take off the rubber bands when you are letting the dye set.
8. Next morning, take it out from the bag and hang it to dry. It’s ready to be worn once it’s sundried!

Precautions when you are dying

1. Set up your workstation outside of the house. The process is bound to get messy.
2. Have plenty of paper towels and old rags to mop up the spills.
3. The dyes are harmless to your skin, but if you don't wear rubber gloves you will have green hands which won't wash off very easily!
4. Make sure that the caps are on tight and wipe the screw top and bottle neck to avoid "capillary action”!
5. Cut out a few old socks and fit them over the bottle necks to avoid any accidental leaks.

If time permits, make more such green tees to distribute among friends and family when they come over for your St. Patrick’s Day party!