A simple knit dress, which I then tie-dyed! Tutorial
If you ask me... it's hard to say which is cooler about this dress: that I made it out of a twin-sized fitted bedsheet, that I traced a tank top to cut it out instead of using a pattern, or that I tie-dyed it striped. A knit tank dress that's tie dyed? And super comfy? It doesn't get a whole lot more summery than this. I love summer. (I'm not alone! This post is part of the Tie Dye Your Summer project!)
I mean, you can see how excited I am about this..JPG)
And I have a tutorial for you! I'm sure you hardly need one, but I documented the process nonetheless.
Striped Tie Dyed Knit Dress Tutorial
You will need:
- White cotton knit dress or tank (I made mine from a 100% cotton jersey bedsheet)
- Tulip One-Step Tie Dye Kit
- Plastic bag for keeping the dress wet in for 24 hours while it sits
- Grass (optional - I don't trust myself squirting dye indoors.)
That's pretty much it. It actually comes with rubber bands and plastic gloves, although I used my own thicker rubber bands to make wider white stripes.
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1. Make the dress. Does that count as a step? If you're using a storebought tank or dress, skip this part. If you're like me, trace a favorite tank over the fabric as a pattern, giving generous seam allowances since the jersey may not stretch as much as a ribbed tank. Use a zigzag stitch to sew the long seams, and finish seam allowance edges if you don't have a serger.
2. Make stripes in the dress with rubber bands. I spaced mine approximately evenly apart.
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3. Add water to the One-Step Tie Dye bottle and mix with the powdered dye.
4. Squirt dye in alllllll over the rest of the dress. (This bottle technique would work great for doing different colored stripes on one garment!)
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I used two bottles!
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5. Follow the instructions for letting the dye sit, and washing the garment. I put mine in a plastic bag for 24 hours, then rinsed it and washed it a couple times by itself. Color is totally set!
That's it!
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Knit dresses in the summer? In the top 2 most comfortable things you can wear.
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The only downside to this approach? I forgot that the thread doesn't dye! I used poly thread on cotton, and as you can see at the hem and neckline... the thread stayed white. So, try 100% cotton thread, I bet it would take the dye!
This post was sponsored by Tie Dye Your Summer and I Love to Create.
super cute! I want to make one now!
ReplyDeleteAlways make sure you wash and dry fabric of all kinds before you try to dye.If it has stains stain will show when you dye too. So you can do a test dress with old material just remember this. Never use fabric softner either. Dress is really cute and cool looking by the way.
ReplyDeleteI love tie dyeing. My daughter, by coincidence, just dyed some shirts last night using the same dyes. Your dress is perfect for summer. I love how you used one color - a little less Woodstock that way. And jersey sheets as fabric rocks!
ReplyDeleteSuper cute, and so clever to use a jersey sheet. Did you just hem the edges, or did you finish them in another way? I can't quite tell, but it looks like maybe you used bands on the neckline and armholes?
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get your purse? It's really cute.
ReplyDeletei love getting your blog emailed to me, but your feedburner says it's not enabled. Maybe bc of the name change? I think you just have to go to feedburner and switch it. THanks!
ReplyDeleteWell I thought you chose the white thread on purpose to go with the stripes. It looks great! The binding on the neck and arms lays so smooth. Again, it looks great!!!
ReplyDeleteJJ
www.dressupnotdown.blogspot.com
Thanks! Yes, I was going for "less Woodstock"! =)
ReplyDeleteYes, the sheet was pre-washed when I cut it out for the dress. Good tip!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, I used the neckline technique I learned from the Out and About Dress - you can kind of see it in this tutorial. http://sewcaroline.com/2014/03/tutorial-sleeveless-dress.html. It works great for knits!
ReplyDeleteOld Navy - I have 3 in different colors!
ReplyDeleteUh oh! I tried to update it, just fixed so email subscription is enabled (again?). Weird! Thanks for letting me know!
ReplyDeleteThanks! For some reason, feedburner doesn't work all the time for me. As in, I won't get any blogs emailed to me for a month. I switched to another email address on Saturday to see if that helps. Of course, on Monday morning, I see that they are getting sent to the old email again (argh!). But I'm also getting them to the new email, and this is the last time I'm trying. (this is the 3rd time over the last 2 years). I just signed up for the new email for your blog and it DOES work!! Thanks :) Now I have to delete all the blogs from my old email as they come.
ReplyDeleteAdorable! I can see wearing this at the beach!
ReplyDeleteI definitely had beach in mind!!
ReplyDeleteWeird! It is sort of a clunky technology! Hope you keep getting them!
ReplyDelete