It all started back in April when I started work at a place with a dead strict dress code - like elbows are sexy or something. Basically, I have to have sleeves to elbow length or longer at work so I'd had this bright idea of buying a load of cheap, basic long-sleeved white T-shirts and tie dying them in different colours so I'd have loads of tops that'd go with practically any skirt I owned and would be ok for work. It worked brilliantly, and saved me a lot of money - it's really really hard to find tops that are sneeus/tzeniut (modest) enough for work - even if they've got long sleeves, many styles have low necks - plus I hate blouses and shirts with collars and fussy bows, and that means most of the things in the shops that would otherwise be ok for work. Everything seems to be so damn fussy at the moment with bows and frills and stuff.
My tie-dyed T-shirts were a big hit with colleagues and kids. Such a big hit in fact, that after exams and things were over at the end of the summer term, we had a tie dye day where the class I'd been working with all brought in an old T-shirt, pillowcase or other item of their choice (anything except their dad's Shabbos shirt, the kids were told!). The kids had great fun, did something creative and messy and got something out of it that they could take home and use.
My daughter wanted to have a go too - she wanted a tie-dye T-shirt of her own. So, once she'd decided what colours she wanted - she wanted a T-shirt in her house colour (red) for PE and a purple one. She wanted a pattern of concentric circles on the front of the red one, and a star inside a circle on the purple one.
I can do tie-dye circles and stripes - vertical, horizontal and diagonal, and combinations of these no problem. I can't do stars. So, I dug out my Easy Batik kit and painted a star pattern on the purple one. Followed the instructions, but it didn't come out. Maybe I didn't leave it to dry long enough. So, after it was dry, I had a think, and decided to have
a go at fabric painting. I'd never done this before, so wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I wanted to give my Phoebe the T-shirt she wanted. It worked really well. It needed several coats of white on the purple background, but the blue spiral inside the star was fab, and I highlighted the spiral with darker blue and silver. Once it was dry, I fixed it by ironing (honestly, that's the first time in months that iron's been used!)I did a few things for myself while I had the dyes out - I did a vest, a T-shirt and another jumper I'll be able to wear for work, plus a pair of knickers that I'd not realised were in the washing machine when I rinsed out the first two items (purple and red) They came out partly tinged in light pink and red, so I tie dyed a couple of circles and dunked them in the deep pink dye bath. they do look rather cool.
I've now got to work out a design for my beloved - he wants the Tree of Life. Nothing simple. So I'm working on the design for that at the moment
Watch this space for photos of the finished things.
