SDC: Make It Monday (Tie Dye Shirts)

If you have the patience for it, tye-dyeing with your kids can be a really wonderful bonding activity, and a great way for the kids to make their own summer fashion statement. If you are a newbie to the tie-dye fashion bug, make like me and head off to the nearest computer and look it up in the web. There are a lot of resources available to help you get started and get some tips from the experts along the way.

It is really simple and the materials needed can easily be found at any grocery or department store: bowls, rubber bands, marbles, fabric dyes, hot water, clothespins, and of course the garments to be dyed.. Since I only had one size of marbles lying around the house, and I wanted a variety in our spherical patterns, I made do and used salad macaroni instead.

It was a make-your-own fashion adventure for the kids, as I made them choose what pattern and color they wanted for their shirts. J chose to have a blue striped shirt, with some green in the middle to break the monotony. B, my li'l fashionista was adamant and wanted a "golden yellow" (her exact words) shirt with spherical patterns. R decided on a blue ombre.

The whole morning was spent soaking up the garments in the dye. Since the dye is permanent, I had the kids don C's tatty shirts. The over-sized tees, which I pinned with clothespins at the sleeves gathering towards the neckline, made them look like ancient Romans and they had a kick out of it.

The expressive patterns that resulted when we took off the rubber bands thrilled the kids. I am sure this is one activity that won't be forgotten.

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