Friday, June 6, 2014

Kicking Off a Colorful Summer with Shaleen Kapil


Last year, I marked the end of summer with a special day for my children: they could stay in their pajamas all day and watch as much TV and movies as they wanted. (This is big—screen time is extremely limited in my house.) It was such a hit, that we have decided to make it a yearly event (provided they keep up with chores, etc., during the summer).

Now, I decided to do something to mark the beginning of summer: tie-dye. We just finished tie dying shirts to wear this summer. What do you think of our first attempt?

I used the One-Step Tie Dye kits from the craft store. They were easy to use, but I’ve got a few tips that might help yours turn out better than mine!

1.     Use zip ties or make the rubber bands really, really tight. Our rubber bands kept breaking when we made them tight, so the ones that we ended up using were too loose to keep the colors from seeping underneath the rubber bands. Therefore, we had little white left on our shirts.
2.     Do not put purple and yellow close together. The result was muddy (aka UGLY)
3.     Make sure you rinse the shirts until the water runs clear before washing. My friend skipped this step, and the colors all ran.
4.     Use a cup of vinegar on the rinse cycle before you wash the shirts with soap. This will help set the colors and keep them bright.
5.     Buy some iron-on girly decals to dress them up! We did.


If you start your summer with tie-dye, I’d love to see the results!

Shaleen is getting ready to publish her first sweet romance and a series of chapter books for children. You can follow find her at her author site, Shaleen Kapil, or at her health blog, HaveMatWillTri.

6 comments:

  1. Shaleen - Tie dye is a great way to start off the summer with the kids. And useful, too! Good luck with your debut sweet romance!

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  2. I've always wanted to learn how to tie-dye, but have never had the time. I'm kind of worried that I'd end up with more dye on me than the fabric.

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  3. What a wonderful idea, Shaleen. My daughter would have loved to do this when she was younger. And you have such beautiful results!

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  4. Such a neat way to resurrect old clothes, too. Great tips!

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  5. Thanks for sharing this, Shaleen. Great fun!

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  6. I was able to make one for me to match my kids' swim team colors too (the green and blue one).

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