DIY: Cut & Color

Well actually it's color and then cut. Recently I got my yearly dance t-shirt that's always those typical oversized, fat sleeved shirts. We have a tradition at my dance school to always find a way to cut them up. This year I was not content with just cutting it up, I wanted to color it! So today I'm going to show you how I colored it with iDye!

Color

What you'll need:

• iDye packet in color of your choice. I'm using Turquoise!
• 1 cup of non-iodized salt
• Gloves
• Fabrics to be died
• Detergent

What you'll need to do:

1. First, fill your washer with very hot water! Enough so that all your fabric can freely swim around. My washer weighs the laundry before adding water so I had to do this step with a bucket, haha.
2. Second, plop the packet of dye (in it's plastic as well, it dissolves in water!) along with the cup of non-iodized salt. Put on your gloves (this will stain your skin!) and then swirl those around in the water together until the packet is completely dissolved.
3. Then, wet the fabrics you are coloring in a sink and then place them in the water.
4. Set your wash cycle time for 45 minutes. The instructions say to leave them in the wash cycle for 50 - 60 minutes but it all depends on how dark you want the color to be!  Let the washer complete the wash.
5. After the wash has ended, leave your freshly dyed fabrics in the washer and quick wash (about 30 minutes) with a mild detergent. I added some freshening beads to give my new shirt a nice scent!
6. Lastly, pull out your fabrics after the wash and hang up to dry! Or if you'd like just throw them in the drier for about 10 minutes!
7. Viola! You now have a freshly colored item of clothing!

This was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. Had a few problems with figuring out how to use the wash but there was no muss and no fuss. The color didn't even dye my white washer!

Now for the Cut!

What you'll need:

• Fabric scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil

What you'll need to do:

1. Lay your shirt on a flat surface and then fold it in half, making sure everything is lined up (sleeve to sleeve, collar end to collar end). 

2. Draw a line across to how short you want the shirt to be. Mine ends up being just below my shorts waistline. 

3. Take your fabric scissors (I don't have any so I used kitchen shears haha) and cut across with the shirt still folded in half. If you want a super precise and straight cut, unfold the shirt and extend the line. Then, cut it like that. 

4. After you've cut the bottom off, just follow the sleeve line to cut those off.

5. This is the tricky part. Take your ruler and measure out how long you want the sleeves to be. For mine, I measured 3 inches from the end of the collar. Take the pencil and draw two small dots as a guideline. Next figure out how far down you want the, I guess sleeve holes?, to be. Draw two more guideline dots. Now cut from the top dot to the bottom one in a small arch. The picture above does a better job at explaining what I mean, so use that as a source. Sorry!

6. Keep cutting until you're satisfied with the how it looks. If you want, cut the collar off to create a more open neck, or even create a v-neck!

Finished product

That's how my shirt came out! I'm still figuring out how to take proper outfit pictures of my self so I couldn't really take a picture of this on me. This style creates a perfect work out shirt, biking shirt, or just an awesome summer-y shirt! Wear your favorite patterned bandeau underneath! Just so I didn't feel like I wasn't wasting most of my shirt, I used the extra scraps to rip three strips and create an awesome braided fabric bracelet!

I hope you ladies found this helpful or in anyway useful! My photos speak a lot more than my words do! Hope you try this out! I'd love to see pictures :) 

Also, link me to any DIY projects you've come up with. I'm on a DIY kick!

xo