Tie-Dye Family T-shirts
Do the kids need a fun summer project? Are you looking for a family reunion project? Then these colorful T-shirts are just what you're looking for!
Supplies:
ScanNCut machine and accessories
USB Flash Drive
Cousin.fcm cut file (free download HERE)
White T-shirts
Tie-Dyes (I used 3 colors: fuchsia, yellow, and turquoise)
Freezer Paper
Iron-on materials (I used flocked in royal, glitter in aqua, and hologram in black)
Gloves (your dye usually comes with some)
Craft Mat
Instructions:
Follow this video on how to create these shirts or read the instructions below.
1. Download the FREE ScanNCut file “Cousins.fcm"onto your USB drive and insert it into your ScanNCut.
2. Cut circle design out of freezer paper.
- To do that first tap on “patterns,” then “saved data,” and then the USB icon. Find the “Cousins.fcm” cut-file, select it, and then click “ok”.
- Next, click on the mat icon. On this screen you can delete the word layer and keep circle layer. Resize and move your circle if you need to and then hit “ok”.
- Then hit “cut” and insert a mat loaded with a piece of freezer paper on it into the machine.
- Adjust your blade to 1 and have it cut out your design. (NOTE: always do a test cut to determine the correct settings...mine may be different then yours depending on blade and mat usage.)
- Once the design is cut out go ahead and unload the mat. You can now use your spatula to gently remove the freezer paper design from the mat. You want to be sure you take your time so you don't rip it.
3. Iron freezer paper stencil onto T-shirt, waxy side down. Use a pressing cloth and set your iron to cotton without steam.
4. Take another large piece of freezer paper and fold it in half with the waxy side out and place it inside your shirt to prevent the dye from seeping through the back side of the stencil.
5. You're now ready to break out the dye!
- Follow the manufacture's instructions for mixing up the dye and any safety precautions.
- Wear gloves if you don't want to have colorful hands!
- Dye your T-shirt! You'll see in the video that I try out a couple of different techniques. Play around and see what you like, most tie-dye kits come with enough dye to create numerous T-shirts.
- (NOTE: I did not wet my shirts prior to dying them since I didn't want the dye to bleed too much.)
- Using a brush to spread the dye around gives fairly crisp edges to your stenciled design.
- Squeezing the dye around the stencil and then pushing it around with a brush allows the dye to bleed a little bit but still maintains the overall design.
- Not using a freezer paper stencil and just squeezing dye in a circular pattern creates an unpredictable circle.
6. Wait the manufacture's instructed amount of time for the dye to work it's magic and then remove the freezer paper stencils, and then wash and dry the shirts per the instructions.
NOTE: I just let mine dry over night and then washed and dried them in the morning.
Also, to show the difference between using a freezer paper stencil & not using one, I created one extra shirt (pictured on the far right below) by just squeezing the dye onto the shirt in a circular pattern and I did not use a freezer paper stencil for it. You can see in the washed & dried shirts below how it bleeds much more then the stenciled shirts.
7. Choose which type and color of heat-applied material you want to use for the lettering and determine what size you're going to need it to be.
- I used Glitter Flake Aqua, Hologram Black, and Flock Royal.
8. Place your heat-applied material onto the mat with the shiny side down, matte side up. You want to cut through the material but not through the clear plastic transfer sheet. This sheet is important since it will hold your design all together so you can easily position it onto your T-shirt and iron it on.
9. Cut the word design out of your heat-applied materials.
- Plug your USB drive into your ScanNCut, click on “patterns,” then “saved data,” then click on the USB icon and then choose the “Cousins.fcm” cut-file and then click “ok”.
- Click on the “mat” icon. This time, select and delete the circle design.
- Resize if needed and then click the “mirror” icon (it's the icon with the two triangles on it). Move the word design where you want it and then click “ok”. (You can double check that the writing has flipped to mirrored by clicking on the magnifying glass if you're nervous about it really being mirrored.) Keep clicking “ok” until you're at the cut screen.
10. Change your machine settings and do a test cut.
- You change the machine settings by clicking on the wrench icon, scrolling to page 2 and there you can adjust the cut speed and cut pressure. When set correctly perform a test cut and then when ready cut out the design.
- Settings for heat-applied materials:
Glitter – Blade: 4, Pressure: 4, Speed: 1
Hologram – Blade: 2, Pressure: 2, Speed: 1
Flocking – Blade: 4, Pressure: 4, Speed: 1
- (NOTE: always do a test cut to determine the correct settings...mine may be different then yours depending on blade and mat usage.)
11. Weed out the negative parts of the heat-applied material.
- Trim down your heat-applied material if needed, it makes it easier to weed out the design and you'll be able to use the leftovers later.
- Be gentle! You don't want to rip your material.
- Make sure you weed out the centers of letters.
12. Place your heat-applied material onto your T-shirt and then iron it on.
- Turn iron to the hottest setting an do not use steam.
- Use a pressing cloth and keep the iron on it using pressure for 25-30 seconds.
- It's helpful to turn your T-shirt inside out and iron on the “wrong” side too.
- After the design is cool completely, remove the clear plastic transfer sheet.
And here's my finished shirts!
The one done with a freezer paper stencil with the dye brushed on & flocked letters:
The one done with a freezer paper stencil with the dye squeezed on & glitter letters:
The one done with the dye squeezed on without a stencil & hologram letters:
sponsor: Brother International
Disclosure: I am a paid consultant for Brother International Corporation and have received a ScanNCut from Brother to evaluate. However, the opinions expressed are entirely my own and based on my use of the product.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy from this link it won't cost you a penny more but I make a little bit of money (not enough for a pony)
