Using Dye and Paint To Create a Unique Dance Costume

For this next method, we are going to show you how to use paint and dye to create a kind of spotted fabric. The paint just gives it a bit of added texture. You can spread the paint around, paint a design on the garment if you want or just use your fingers. Sometimes we use this process and add other things. Usually we do this in addition to other dyeing techniques.

Supplies:

Garment of your choice
Dyes
Paints
Rubber gloves
Bleach

Directions:

Before you do anything else, check Notes to Remember in the introductory section above.

Choosing Your Materials
You will choose any garment you desire.

Dying the Garment
With this technique, you will need to get the garment very wet using clear water but, not dripping wet. You will not immerse the garment in water that has been mixed with dye.

Shake up the bottle of dye really well. Pour small amounts on your gloved hands, rub your hands together and then randomly squeeze the fabric to spread the dye all over the garment giving it a spotted look. You will apply the paint in the same manner. When your costume is all wet first, it will really create a blending and a bleeding of the dye instead of just straight, defined spots of color. Although the paint will bleed or blend slightly, it will not bleed or blend as much as the dye. You will notice how it starts to blend together as you apply the dye. This really comes in handy if someone accidentally ruins a costume with spots because you can just add more spots and make it look like that was the intention all along and no one will ever know that it was not meant to be that way.

In our demonstration, we first used Fuchsia dye and then a darker paint. You can add as many colors as you choose. Remember, if you add a lot of colors of dye on top of each other they will blend and also change colors where they overlap. If you want the colors to stay true, you will want to use paint for some colors and also let the garment dry between colors.