Sheepishness and Shenanigans

It’s been a while since I’ve personalized old shirts of mine. Given clothes get a bit too expensive these days, checking out old clothes in your wardrobe and giving them a fresh new look can definitely save you a lot of money which is exactly what I did just yesterday. For this D.I.Y. project, I tried out the trick of tie-dying old shirts of mine.

So, you’ll need the following:

1. Old white shirts
2. Scissors
3. Dyes
4. Basin
5. Thick yarn or nylon ties
6. Hot Water
7. Clothes Iron

First off, decide if you want to customize your old shirt by making it into a muscle tee or tank top. I, on the other hand, opted for the tank top look. Check out the video below by YouTube user, LeSassafras, on how to turn old shirts into tank tops.

Next, in a basin, dissolve your colour dye of choice in a basin filled with just the right amount of hot water for one shirt. In my case, I had three shirts and three colour dyes namely blue, purple and pink.

Before placing in the shirts into the basin, tie parts of your shirt with the use of thick yarn or nylon ties. Given it was my first try on tie-dying, I just knotted one area to the next. Check out the video below by YouTube user, akaydoll, on how to tie-dye shirts to create different patterns.

Next step is to dip the shirts into the solution making sure all parts of the shirt are soaked. Leave it for at least 20 minutes.

Wash the shirt and hang it to dry in an area not exposed to the sun. *Note: sunlight can cause dyed colours to fade easily.

Once the shirt is damp, iron them to make the dye dry faster on the shirt.Hang them up once more to dry. As easy as that, you’ve got new colourful shirts for your wardrobe.

Here’s an old photo of me with my white shirt besides a latest pic of me wearing my customized shirt.

Who knew tie-dying would be so much fun? Ah, but note to self, wear a pair of gloves next time.