Reverse Dyed Heart Tie Dye Shirt
Hi guys! So, Valentine’s Day is coming up in a few weeks so I decided to make a reverse dyed heart shirt. It also gave me an opportunity to try Out White Brite Laundry Whitener on a shirt. Here’s a link to the YouTube video:
I started by using a 100% cotton black Gildan adult T-shirt. I’ve found that cotton works best - especially since I am adding dye after I remove part of the black. I don’t ever purchase T-shirts that have polyester for tie dye, but I tried reverse dyeing a 50% cotton sweatshirt once and it didn’t work too well. The black dye barely came out and it ended up a dingy gray color. I’ve done the process on 90% cotton hoodies though and it works great!
I tied the shirt damp right out of the washing machine. I didn’t want to soak it in a soda ash solution yet - I’ll do that after I remove some of the black color. Then I put the tied shirt inside of a 3 gallon heavy plastic bucket that I use for color removal, and flattened the shirt as much as possible.
I am using the Out White Brite outside since it has a pretty strong smell. I also wore my respirator for this entire process. The Out is a powder and I didn’t want to inhale any of the powder - got to protect those lungs! I sprinkled the Out White Brite over the top of the shirt and then poured boiling hot water over the top. I made sure to cover the shirt with the water. Then I swirled the bucket to make sure the entire shirt got saturated.
I was very pleasantly surprised with how fast the Out started working. The color was disappearing immediately! I added a bit more to the heart area of the shirt because I thought I saw a spot that was darker. However, I think it was just a shadow or a fold. I probably could have used a lot less powder than I did, but it was my first time using it and so I didn’t know what to expect. By the way here is a link to the Out White Brite on Amazon if you are not familiar with the product: https://amzn.to/3ix1UWF
I only left the shirt soaking in the bucket for less than 5 minutes before I rinsed it in the sink and put it in the washing machine. I personally like to wash the shirts that I put in dye remover in Dharma’s Textile Detergent before I begin the tie dye process. Every dye remover that I’ve used has a pretty strong smell and I like to get it washed out of the shirt before I go on to the next step. I know quite a few tie dyers skip this step - it isn’t necessary, but I prefer to wash them.
After removing the tied shirt from the washing machine, I put it into a soda ash solution to soak. Whenever I soak shirts that have either been through the color removal process or ones that I am re-dyeing, I put them in a separate container and pour some of my mixed soda ash solution on top for them to soak in. I don’t put them into my normal soda ash bucket that I use for the rest of my shirts. I don’t want to pollute my soda ash solution with color remover or any of the dye that might come out of the shirt that has already been dyed. After I am finished soaking the shirts, I will usually discard the soda ash solution that I used to soak them in.
I went on to apply Strawberry from Custom Colours, Imperial Purple, Grape and Plum dye from Dharma Trading Company to the shirt. Then after the shirt processed, was rinsed, washed and dried - I ended up with a bright vibrant heart! I think it’ll be perfect for Valentine’s Day!
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