Sharpie Tie Dye

This week in Sewing Club, we prepared fabric to sew into little bags by tie dying them with Sharpies.  We had seen this technique on Steve Spangler and all over Pinterest. 

In order to get through 40 kids in an hour, we set up a table to rotate the kids through - it worked out pretty well.  Most tutorials I looked at used cups to stretch the fabric, we used 6 inch embroidery hoops since we have a lot.  Each sewer was given a pre-cut piece of white muslin - ours are 7-1/2 x 15 so that the hoops would fit on them.  There is a hoop on each end of the fabric so that the bags will have a different design on each side.

At the first table, the kids drew with Sharpies.  We talked about making sure their designs were colorful.  Some drew a bit too much and the colors didn't spread very well, but it still looks cool!

Then, they moved to the tie dying table where they dropped rubbing alcohol onto the design using little eye droppers.  Watching the colors spread is the best part!

To set the color and wash out the alcohol, we'll wash the fabric in hot water.  Check back next week to see the finished bags!