Great Teen Quarantine Activity

There seem to be a lot of suggestions for keeping young kids occupied during quarantine. I haven’t seen too many ideas for our tweens and teens. They get bored too. So bored. When the activity of tie-dye was proposed they all jumped at the idea. I quickly realized I was the only one who hadn’t tie-dyed before. In case you find yourself with novice status, here are some tips to help you fool your gang and appear like an expert.

First things first, we wanted our t-shirts to have a distressed look. So, we cut some slits in the neck of the shirt and then used some leftover sandpaper to scuff up the holes. The girls opted to crop the t-shirt by cutting off the hem. It leaves a fun and desired raw edge. We also cut the hem off the sleeves so that when it’s washed they roll up a bit.

Now that we have the t-shirts perfectly imperfect and distressed; it’s time to prep for tie dye.

Wet the t-shirt with water and ring out any excess.

2. Lay the shirt flat on the counter, choose where you’d like the swirl of the tie dye to begin, pinch that area and twist clockwise until your t-shirt forms a circle.

3. It’s time to add rubber bands similar to dividing a pie.

4. It’s at this point I recommend taking your craft project outside. The dye will stain what it touches!

5. Each “piece of pie” gets a color of your choosing.

6. Once each piece of your “pie” is colored allow the shirts to sit, still bound for up to 6 hours. If you’re impatient like us, you can only wait for an hour. It still came out plenty colorful, but 6 is recommended.

7. Rinse the shirt in cool water. And ring it out.

8. Wash in the washer and dry in the dryer.

9. It’s ready to wear!

If you want to take your creation to the next level, whip out some embroidery thread and hand sew an additional design!