Easy Shibori Tie-Dye Techniques

 

HOLA SUMMERTIME! I am so stoked that it's hot outside and mosquitos are constantly swarming around me. Let's face it , SUMMERTIME in Louisiana can get pretty rough but thankfully I just created something that can make life stellar. SHIBORI TOWELS. I know what you are thinking, and if you are anything like me then you can visualize these in every room. 

CURTAINS
PILLOWCASES
HAIRWRAPS
DISH TOWELS

There are so many things you can do with these and I want to show you today! Did I mention this is a GREAT craft for kids! 

Let's get started.

Make a Tie Dye Dress

Tie dye is a fresh addition to fashion this year (check out tie dye in the 2015 resort collections of designers like Alexander Wang and Michael Kors!). It's easy to get a fashion-forward tie dye look when you customize your garments with a one-of-a-kind tie dye treatment, using the Tulip One-Step Tie Dye kit. I bought a white cotton dress at Old Navy and gave it a graphic navy dye job, inspired by the Japanese art of Shibori.

In case you haven't tie dyed in awhile, it has become MUCH easier these days! Find out just how easy...

 

Cool Hues Shibori Top

I discovered shibori completely by accident. I was browsing a department store and saw a fun shirt with a really interesting pattern and was told that the method used was probably shibori. So I did some searching and found that it's an ancient Japanese resist method that basically involves scrunching, twisting, folding and/or mashing a fabric and then dying it. There are several ways to do it and the results, as with any tie dye, are different every time.

Traditional Shibori Dyed Sheets

You may not know what it is called, but you have seen shibori. In home decor and in fashion shibori is the hot dying trend. This is actually an old Japanese dying technique which involves using a resist. A resist can be a pole, marbles, pieces of wood or in my case plastic tupperware. Grab some cotton sheets, a resist, rubber bands galore and a bottle of Tulip One-Step Dye in extra large - perfect for sheets!