Rit Dye Studio T-shirt

Rit recently asked for crafters to join their Rit Studio. The first 500 people to sign up got a t-shirt. I was lucky enough to be one of those people. When I received the t-shirt I just set it aside not sure what I was going to do with it. Then I got an email asking to participate in a contest. "Dyesign" the t-shirt to win some great prizes. I dug out the t-shirt and washed it (the cats had been using it for nap time). As usual I had no plan put just got started.

After washing it, I started with the usual Elmer's Gel Glue as a relief and followed some flowers I printed off google. I wrote a blog post explaining this in detail - Rit Dyed T-shirt with Resist.

I more or less ignored the shaded areas. But once I got to the flowers on the end I decided to color the entire flower in thinking I could make different color flowers. I also rubber banded a section at the bottom for a burst effect. Once the glue dried I dyed the shirt in fuchsia for about an hour. Rinsed the entire shirt to get the glue and dye out and let dry.

Well that wasn't exactly what I was going for. You really couldn't see the outline of any of the flowers. But I kept plugging along. I wet the t-shirt and "sponged" sunshine orange dye shirt with an old rag.

I let that sit for about a day or so. Actually I got busy and forgot about the project. Rinsed again and let dry.

Now to try to come up with a plan...I know fabric markers. I grabbed a black fabric marker and put the flower page back under the t-shirt and wet the t-shirt so I could see the flowers underneath and traced them. Of course I did not read the directions on the side of the marker. As I traced the marker started to run. Oh well I figured I'm just going to dye it again.

I didn't wait for the marker to dry. I just dyed the entire shirt in fuchsia again. Then rubber banded some more bursts and dyed it in sunshine orange, I think. I really don't remember the exact order of colors or for how long. I was "winging" it with this project for about a week and a half and didn't keep exact notes. I had 3 bottles of dye sitting out - fuchsia, sunshine orange, and tangerine so at some point I probably used all of them. I know some where in there I washed the shirt at least twice to make sure all the dye was out and so I could see how it was looking.

At some point I did read the directions for the marker and once the shirt was dry I retraced the flowers based on what did survive the first time. I let the marker dry for 24 hours before I did any more dying.

The marker isn't as pale as it looks in this picture.

The burst at the bottom of the shirt came out so well. I'm really happy about it.

I had no plans for the back of the shirt. All that cool marbling just kind of appeared. I love when that happens.

Overall I am very happy with the shirt. I can't wait to wear it and show it off. I will post an update on here if I win. Wish me luck.

UPDATE - I am a winner! I won the Most Fashionable Category. Yea Me!