Sharpie Experiment Continued, and More Thread Storage

I'm afraid the wash faded the Sharpie designs considerably, even after heat fixing it. Here's the before and after pictures. 

There was also a small amount of bleeding to the back of the T-shirt.  I'd definitely recommend washing anything dyed this way separately at first!  I'm a bit disappointed at how it faded, but may still try it again.  They traditional tie-dye that I did (a kit from the "Jacquard" company) washed up really nice and vibrant, with no fading at all!

With all the hot weather that we've had, I'd been more inclined to stay inside in the air conditioning and work on sewing and other things.  Yesterday I made 2 more thread storage bins.  Now all of my thread is stored nicely inside of these boxes.  It was nice to dust off the spools and know that they'll now be kept dust-free.  I discovered duplicate bobbin colors as I sorted them all onto their matching spools too.  I now have 2 empty thread racks and bobbin cases that I can find new homes for!!

I found that the bigger rack, with the 4 inch pegs, spaced 2 inches apart works perfectly not only for my Isocord thread, but the Aurifil thread as well!

Yea!!!

Sharpie, Alcohol "Tie Dye"

As I was surfing the Internet looking for tie dye ideas, I came across this post that uses Sharpie permanent markers and isopropyl alcohol.  It looked so neat, that I had to try it!

 All you need is a T-shirt, cup, rubber band, strong (I used 91%) isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, and sharpie markers.  I tried out 50% alcohol at first, and it didn't work nearly as well.  There's no gloves, no tub, and no dye solutions involved!

First you stretch the T-shirt over the empty cup, and secure it with a rubber band.  Take the Sharpies and draw a small circle of dots, or lines, or squiggles, or just about anything you want in the very center, then take a dropper and drop the alcohol in the center of the design and watch the science take place before your eyes. 

The alcohol "dissolves" the Sharpie dye and causes it to migrate through the T-shirt.  It reminds me of the thin layer chromatography that I used to do in the hospital lab!  Very very cool!!

Once the T-shirt is done, you need to heat fix it.  The site I looked at recommended letting the alcohol dry first, then throwing into a hot dryer, but ours is gas, and this just didn't seem prudent, as it seemed to be a fire potential, so I just ironed it with a hot iron.  It's in the wash right now, so I'll have to let you know how color-fast it is.

The only downside of this technique is that it creates some strong fumes, and should be done in a well ventilated room, or outside.  I was mesmerized by it and used an old T-shirt to practice how different colors and patterns would work out.  So much fun!  I have all sorts of ideas now on how to make a neat T-shirt.