Tie Dyeing A Shirt Inside Out

Have you ever wondered why tie dyers turn their shirts inside out before they tie them? Well, the answer is a fairly simple one - to avoid speckling.

When liquid dye is mixed, sometimes there are small amounts of dye that don’t fully dissolve. When the dye is applied to the shirt, some of those bits of undissolved dye can come out of the dye bottle and “speckle” the shirt. Sometimes the speckles look really cool with the design, but sometimes they don’t.

Since powdered dye is applied directly to the shirt in ice dyeing - speckling is definitely a possibility.

If the dye was applied to the inside of the shirt, the speckling will hopefully remain on the inside of the shirt and not show through to the front side of the shirt. However, if there is a lot of speckling or the undissolved dye spots are large - it will probably not just stay on the inside of the shirt.

I usually turn T-shirts inside out before tying them, but I don’t usually turn hoodies and sweatshirts inside out. I prefer to apply the dye to the smoother fabric instead of to the fuzzy inside part of a hoodie or sweatshirt. I also recently dyed a flannel shirt and I didn’t turn the shirt inside out either.

It is important to remember that if you are turning your shirt inside out, you will be reversing your design when you turn the shirt right side out. Therefore, if you tie a design on the left side of the shirt - it will be on the right side of the shirt once it is turned right side out.

This applies to letters and numbers and other designs you may be tying into your shirt as well. You will either need to flip your design before you tie it, or don’t turn your shirt inside out if it is a difficult design to flip.

I’ve been asked several times if the front side of the T-shirt will be as vibrant as the inside of the T-shirt, and the answer is absolutely! The front side of the T-shirt will be just as bright, and the color will go all the way through.

It truly is a personal preference - you don’t have to turn your shirts inside out if you would prefer not to.