Tie-dyed Baby Togs

Today I thought I would take a break from my stamping projects to share another of my favorite craft projects. When I first got out of college more than 10 years ago, I was young, poor and had lots of friends who started getting married and having babies. I wanted to come up with a fun, unique baby gift that didn't cost me a fortune. And did I mention, I've always been a huge fan of tie-dye? That's how I started doing tie-dyed onesies, and occasionally toddler t-shirts. A few weeks ago, I made a bunch for little ones I visited on my recent trip home. And I took some step-by-step photos to share as well! Above are my ingredients: cotton onesies (I like Carter's the best, and I work right near a Carter's outlet); rubber bands from a giant economy size bag, salt and Dylon dye. When I started dying, I chose Dylon because the colors are a bit softer and more appropriate for babies. Also, it is a lot quicker than RIT - only an hour or so soak time and you're done.

I forgot to take a photo of the folding and rubber-banding process - that is the most time consuming, I think. I tend to use three fold types: the sunburst, which makes your traditional swirl; the accordion, which makes a cool line fold, and the marble, which is when you just ball up the fabric and get a variegated color pattern. Sometimes I double dip to get a mix of colors, like starting a piece of fabric in green, then changing the rubber band pattern slightly and redying in blue, as in the photo below.

After the dying, you take the rubber bands out and rinse the remaining dye out of the fabric. The color lightens up a lot after rinsing and drying, and again after the first washing. You have to learn not to panic when the fabric turns a really bright shade in the dye tub.

Here are some finished sunbursts and accordions for baby boys. These sunbursts were a bit splotchy, but I still thought they turned out cool. And below is the final shot of the whole batch. The brightest pink ones are the marbled look.

I take custom orders if you're interested in purchasing baby tie-dye. Price per piece is $12 or three for $32 plus shipping. Contact me at eliotstamps@msn.com for more information.