Sharpie Tie Dyeing

Although tie dyeing with Sharpie markers is new to me, it seems to have been around for a long time. So long in fact that there are tons of tutorials about how to do it....just google Sharpie tie dye. Most of the information stems around tie dyeing clothing though and I wanted to try it on plain fabric. I used white cotton sateen fabric and played around with different colors and designs to see what would happen.

The only supplies you need are Sharpie markers and rubbing alcohol. I tried both 70% and 91% and there was no difference. I put the rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle. After coloring the fabric with the markers, I sprayed the rubbing alcohol pretty heavily over the whole piece then left it to air dry.

I put another piece of white fabric under the piece I was working on to see what would happen. This fabric turned out really great. The colors are more pastel with less defined lines.

I found that different colors reacted differently to the alcohol. Some bled more than others. The final step is to heat set the color with an iron. Place a cloth over your dyed piece and press. Since this fabric will be used in art quilts, I don't need to worry about any of the colors fading from washing.

This is the piece that was underneath. I definitely like the fabric pieces that were underneath better than the original ones.