After recently playing around with textile dyeing and making some swatches, I decided to try ice dyeing on actual clothes. Honestly, I’m thrilled with how it turned out, especially since I’m very new at this! I experimented with both the “hills and valleys” and a fabric-coiling technique. I definitely prefer the more random, organic look that came from the hills and valleys approach.
The Rose & Eggplant Timeless Tee
I love, love, love how this one turned out! I started with a light pink Timeless Tee from Banana Republic and used Eggplant (115) Procion Dye from Dharma Trading. The colors broke up beautifully, and I love how different the front and back look.
Method: I flipped the shirt inside out and, with the back facing up, scrunched it over a few aluminum foil balls in a wire basket, propped above the muck. I used a relatively light hand with the dye powder so some of the shirt’s original rose color would peek through. I extended the top of the basket with foil to hold more volume.
Purple Sweatshirt
This one’s another favorite…except it’s a size too small. I used a ready-to-dye (RTD) sweatshirt from Dharma Trading and two dyes: Wedgewood Blue (76) and Power Berry (161) Procion Dyes, also from Dharma Trading. I’m going to see what I can do to refashion it since the main issue is that it’s tight around the bottom band.
Method: I flipped the sweatshirt inside out and, with the back facing up, scrunched it in an aluminum pan with drainage holes cut into the bottom and sides. The pan was propped above the muck, and the sweatshirt filled the space perfectly with natural hills and valleys, so I didn’t need any foil balls underneath. I sprinkled the Wedgewood Blue and Power Berry dyes in diagonal stripes, which created some cool design lines.
Problem: Even though I didn’t think I used too much dye, it took forever to rinse out the excess. After chatting in a forum, it seems that pre-soaking the shirt in soda ash, rather than sprinkling the dye on it, might have been part of the problem.
Mermaid Waffle
I pulled a rarely worn white waffle tee from Old Navy out of my pajama drawer to try the Mermaid’s Dream (153) dye, and I really love how it turned out.
Method: I flipped the shirt inside out and, with the back facing up, scrunched it into a foil enclosure with a couple of foil balls to create hills and valleys. The open-bottom enclosure sat on a wire rack above the muck. I sprinkled Mermaid’s Dream (153) with a moderate hand, followed by a dusting of Glauber’s salt. As the manufacturer warned, it took several rinses to remove the excess dye.
Re-Swatch – When I initially swatched this color, I didn’t add Glauber’s salt, which is supposed to help the turquoise in the dye set better. For the shirt, I did, and the colors came out beautifully vibrant compared to the original swatch.
Cotton Crew Twist
This one’s my least favorite. I used a Gildan tee from Michaels in my usual size, but it turned out more fitted than I expected and not very soft, even after washing. I also wish I’d used more dye to get deeper saturation in the twist, though I’m not really fond of the pattern the twisting created anyway. During rinsing, some stray dye bled into the white areas, softening the contrast, which wasn’t ideal.
I do like how the yellow complements the hydrangea splits, though. With a bit more color overall, this could’ve been a real standout, so I’ll probably revisit this color combo in a future project.
Method: I flipped the shirt inside out and twisted it diagonally from one shoulder to the opposite hem. I then coiled that rope shape into a foil enclosure, which sat on a wire rack above the muck. I sprinkled a small amount of Sun Yellow (108) dye, followed by some Hydrangea (159).
For a first go at ice dyeing real clothes, I couldn’t be happier! Each of these shirts showed me how unpredictable, and delightfully surprising ice dyeing can be. Even small tweaks like using Glauber’s salt or adjusting the setup make a big difference, especially when compared to the swatches. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned here into future dyeing projects.