Totally Awesome Tie-Dye. Suzanne McNeill

      Introduction: Tie-Dye is an adventure

       At its heart, tie-dye is a simple craft: it’s about adding color to fabric. It’s the range of colors you can use and the myriad of ways to manipulate the fabric that make it so versatile and exciting.

       The complicated spirals, circles, bursts, and other shapes made possible by tie-dye come from simple techniques. Fold, twist, pleat, or crumple the fabric, and tie it with very basic materials—a rubber band or string, for example. You can create infinite bold iterations even before adding simple resists and stitching techniques to the mix.

       Tie-dye techniques have been used for centuries all over the world, from Nigeria to pre-Columbian Peru to Japan to Thailand. Modern psychedelic tie-dyeing became popular in the late 1960s as rock stars donned brightly colored tie-dyed T-shirts, and their fans followed. Today, dyes made for tie-dye have never been more vibrant, and the effects you can create only begin with the classic sixties rainbow spiral.

       Perhaps the reason that tie-dyeing has remained so popular through the years is the individuality it brings to your wardrobe. You can easily turn a standard, mass-produced shirt into a unique work of art that expresses your personality and shows off your skills. Every creation is different, and it is always exciting to unwrap your project, rinse it out, and see what you find.