Tie Dying

My sister and I love tie dyed clothes, so every couple of years we dye things for the kids.  (It seems to be every time I'm pregnant!)  So last week, Megan came over with her kids and we tried Indigo Dying for the first time and regular tie dying.  Fortunately it was a beautiful day, so we kicked all the kids outside to play most of the time we were working.  My mom showed up a little later and was also a huge help! 

The indigo dying is vat dying, so you submerge the cloth in the liquid dye.  Once you pull it out, you wring out the extra dye, untie it, and let it set for at least 20 minutes. 

When you pull out the cloth from the indigo, it is almost a lime green or a yellow green.  It darkens to a rich blue as it oxidizes.   You can dip the fabric a second or third time to get a deeper color, but you would not want to untie it until you are finished dipping.

Here you can see the light green, and in the following pictures you can see how it has already darkened a bit in the minute or less this fabric has been out of the dye.

Things setting and drying on the line in my garage

After washing, these actually are a bit lighter, like a medium blue jean.  They look really nice, but I forgot to get a picture of them after they were washed and dried.
By the time we got to the regular tie dying, I was really tired so I didn't get many pictures.  Maybe I can get some pictures of the finished products to share, though the kids are already enjoying wearing them!