Ombre Clothes Dying DIY

We all love the Ombre hairstyle the exploded overnight… gracing celebrities from Drew Barrymore to Rachel Bilson. There's something wonderfully funky and elegant about the change of color- so why limit it to just hair?!

Ombre dying methods work on clothes too! The graceful fade from one color to another has been seen all over the runway and in our favorite stores- check out these adorable pink shorts from Topshop.com and the subtle mint and denim ones from Freepeople.com:

You don’t have to spend big bucks to have funky one of a kind dyed clothes though- just follow these simple steps for an ombre-tastic article of clothing!

Supplies:
-Fabric Dye (I used RIT liquid & powder, though I prefer liquid)
-a garment you wish to dye (I did denim shorts & a cotton tank top)
-a large plastic bowl or container
-a hanger or rod to hang the garment above the dye

Step One: Choose an article of clothing (or a few). I grabbed a $10  mint colored cotton tank from H&M and a pair of $5 light denim shorts from Forever21.

Step Two: Prepare the dye. I swear by RIT dye. The colors are beautiful and the product is cheap. You can’t go wrong! I chose Teal for the tank and Petal Pink for the shorts. I find the liquid bottles of dye easier to use because you don’t have to worry about getting powder everywhere and if you don’t use it all you can save it for later! Just follow the directions on the bottle/ package for sink dying- prepare in a large punch bowl or plastic bin.

ALTERNATIVE: try using bleach instead of dye on denim for an acid wash meets ombre result!

It turns out like this awesome pair from Singer22.com (although you don’t have to make it so extreme)
check out my tutorial for bleached shorts here.

Step Three: Run your garment under water so that is damp and place your article of clothing on a hanger and hang above the bowl of dye. Hang the garment so only the very bottom of the piece is actually submerged in the dye (use your own judgment here- if you want the dye to be very strong half way up the garment then place half of it in the bowl- but the dye will creep up and go higher than what is submerged). 

Step Four: Wait a while. No seriously, it takes a bit. RIT dye will set in 30-60 minutes but what we’re aiming for is the garment absorbing as much of the dye as possible so that the color creeps up the shirt/shorts/whatever. So don’t touch it or stir it-  just let it do its thing. I left mine sitting throughout Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 and that did the trick!

Step Five: Take the garment out of the dye and rinse in the sink until the water runs clear- make sure not to get any dye on the top part of the garment.

Step Six: Wash garments separately WITH a little bit of detergent. Dry however the garment requires and….

 VOILA! Awesome ombre clothes- perfect for spring and summer! Now you can turn it around and ombre the top in another color or add embellishments- the skies the limit.

No Sew Tu-Tu DIY

Okay so this is a pretty long for my very first post- but I just had to share my favorite craft- the no-sew tutu! If you're a little girl at heart and love dressing up for halloween (or for no reason at all) or have a little girl who thinks she's a princess than this is perfect for you! 

Supply list:

-elastic (I got 1 1/4 inches thick and enough to wrap around waist)

-tulle: you can get in in sheets, a few yards will do, or in rolls which is much easier to cut (try joann fabrics they come in rolls in all different colors- I used about two of these rolls per tutu)

-embellishments!! (i'll elaborate on what I used below)

-stapler with staples

-scissors

-possibly hot glue or needle/thread depending on embellishments 

 So you start with your lovely stacks of tulle... you can make the tutu all one color or stripe colors... skies the limit.

 Then you get your embellishments. Ribbons are GREAT. Who doesn't like bows? I also like feathers, spray glitter, lace, cloth flowers, dyes (RIT all the way!), and everything girly- Martha Stuart makes a great line of crafty cloth ribbons that I strongly suggest using.

 Step One: Wrap the elastic around the waist the tutu is intended for. Overlap the elastic and staple it. You've made the waist band! If you're really nifty you  can sew it but the tulle will cover the staples.

Step Two: Figure out how long you want the skirt, then double that length and add an inch. Cut strips into this length. The width I used was about 8 inches. Pick up a strip and double it, making a loop at the top.

 Step Three: Place the folded strip inside the waist band so it is behind the elastic.

Step Four: pull 'tails' of tulle through the loop around the elastic. 

 Step Five: Do this all around the tutu... pack it up with as much tulle as possible! Like I said before I used about two rolls of the pre rolled tulle. Seriously use as much tulle as you can fit on the elastic- really squish it on there (without stretching the actual elastic). When all the elastic is on the skirt trim the tulle so it's all the same length. 

 Step Six: Embellish! Yay this is the fun part! Use hot glue or sew on flowers, bows, charms, glitter- anything you can think of- just be careful of glueing things on the elastic part of the tutu because you don't want to constrict the elasticity.

I made quite a few of these lovely skirts- They'll be on etsy to purchase soon but here are some examples to get your creative juices flowing!