T-T-T-Tye Dye Dayyyyyyy!!

Oh holy hippy gods of Oregon!  We honor thee by creating Tye Dye goodness in your name!  OK, okay to much?  I cannot deny my roots, I am a true Oregonian borne and raised in this amazing state.  If you live here, or have been here you know it has a beauty all it's own, and Portland is one of my favorite places!  I love the city life of Portland, I love that in 30 minuets I can be hiking in the woods, or take the boat to the river.  Want to go camping?  Load everything in the boat and we're off!  It's a lifestyle all it's own, and we are very comfortable here.  I believe that you cannot be a true Oregonian unless you accept the Hippie factor that is all so fluent in society.  One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning, is to drive downtown and go to the Saturday Market.  The diversity is astounding, and amazing.  The food cannot be beat no matter what your craving, the booth's are filled with beautiful handmade jewelry and pipe and bong sellers.  Beautiful handwoven dresses sitting next to the palm reading mistress.  And there's the Tye-dye!  It's everywhere, and it's beautiful!

This was another one of our Bucket Lists for the summer, and the kids had been waiting to do it.  I have had a lot of personal stresses this month, and have not been the attentive mother that my children are use to.  I have realized this and I am trying to correct it, this seemed like the perfect project to get back on track! 

We used two different styles, one for the boys and one for the girls.  For the boys we laid the shirts flat on the counter and rolled upwards beginning at the bottom of the shirt.  Once completely rolled we placed the rubber bands around to make sections.  For the girls, again laying flat on the counter.  I picked them up from the center and twisted them together, placing the rubber bands in sections as I moved downwards. 

The kids really did have a great time decorating, the shirts.  Alex took pictures with my iPhone as I helped, so there aren't pictures of him.  But he sure did take some good pictures!  I think it's time to break out the old camera for him. 

The kit that I purchased said we were to wait 24 hours until rinsing them.  So we decided to go to the mall the next day and do some school clothes shopping.

Finally it was time to see what we had created!  Please excuse my horrible fence in this picture.  We have not gotten to replace that side yet.  Our home is constantly a work in progress, but we sure love it that way <3

For the girls I knew I wanted to do something special.  The shirts were "to big" on them and they didn't like they way they fit.  I ran over to JoAnne Fabric's and purchased one of those big boxes of beads and decided to fringe the heck out of them and add fabulous beading!  Then I knew they would like them!

That was a lot of cutting!  Finally we had cut the shirt in a thin fringe all along the bottom of the shirt, and the sleeves, there was some extra cutting I found necessary on the sleeves, but that was something you just have to get in there and do. 

Make sure to cut the hem off the bottom of the shirt to string the beads on, tie that off with a double knot and there ya go! 

 

For the sleeves, I could have gone with the same beaded fringe as I did on the bottom of the shirt, but I decided to go with this, it made the sleeves a little shorter, and I think a little more feminine.  I just tied the strands together, around three times, and called it good. 

The girls are completely in love with their shirts!  I'm decided to make one of these for my niece as well, and send it down to her for a going off to school gift.