How to keep your tie dye bright

Have you caught the tie dye bug? We have too! It's the perfect kid-friendly activity to do in the garden this summer. And you'll have a fab souvenir from the summer to show for it.

Here are a few top tips on how to tie dye and how to keep your tie dye bright and vibrant after you've dyed it.

Before you begin ☀️

To start, make sure you're using 100% cotton items, these work the best.

Prewash your items with laundry detergent (but skip the fabric softener).

Get your items damp before you begin to dye; make sure you squeeze out any excess water.

While you're dying 💦

Follow the instructions exactly. Add water to the bottles of dye if you're using one of our Tulip One-Step Tie Dye Kits.

Only add water to the dye when you're ready to dye, not in advance. The dye only stays active for 48-72 hours so only activate the colours and amounts you're actually going to use in that dye session.

TOP TIP: To avoid brown splotches when you're dying, avoid putting complimentary colours next to each other. Colours inevitably bleed into each other, so putting purple next to orange will result in brown splotches. Whereas putting pink next to yellow will create some nice tangerine splotches.

After you're done dying 🌈

Place each item in a sealable plastic bag, one bag per tie dye item so that they don't leak onto each other. Let your item set for 8-24 hours... but the longer the better for a really intense colour. The longer it sits, the more intense the dye.

24 hours later... ⏰

Rinse each item separately under warm water. Rinse until the water runs clear.

Wash items right after rinsing, keeping them separate from your other laundry! And also different coloured tie dye. For example, if you've done a batch of pastel Ice Cream Shoppe tie dye, don't wash it in the same load as a batch made with bold and dark Shark Island.

Wash hot with a small amount of detergent.

How to keep it bright after the first wash? ⚡️

Try soaking your item in 50:50 white vinegar and water solution for 30 minutes to keep the colour bright.

After the first few hot washes, only wash your tie dye item in cold water to keep it from fading.

Use gentle detergents.

Hang dry instead of using the tumble dryer.

What next? 🌈

Make some more tie dye! 🤩 Grab another colour way and kit from the shop and get dying!