We did matching Mickey head tie dye shirts for our Disney cruise in 2014.  They came out great and most are still in really good shape.  We can’t wear them again, however, because the kids all grew. 

In the fall I did matching crown shirts for the females in our group.  I did extra sizes so that if we wanted to wear them again in a year or two we can.

Today John and I completed some Mickey head tie dye shirts for our upcoming trip.  Again, I did a few extra sizes in case we want to wear them again in a year or two.

This project actually started last summer.  My mom and sister found their own tanks at Kohls.  I started with picking up white t-shirts at the end of the summer whenever I saw them.  I managed to get nicely made shirts for Marie, John, the boys, and I at JCP for $4 each.  I found the younger girls’ shirts at WalMart for $3 and $4 a piece, depending on the size.  I stored them in my closet until the timing was right.

The shirts were washed and dried before work on them began. 

The next step was the most tedious of all.  I had to trace Mickey heads on each shirt and sew around the shape with waxed dental floss.

Once the dental floss is all around the head, I pulled the floss to create a little bunch of fabric.

Then I wrapped a rubber band around the “Mickey head” that poofed out. 
Our work area was in the laundry room.  John brought in a large table and we covered it with a drop cloth.

We got the shirts wet in warm clean water and twisted them in a spiral shape, keeping the “Head” protruding out.

We then soaked the shirts in soda ash for 30 minutes and got individual bags ready for storing them.

John held each shirt over the sink as I squirted onto the “head”.  Then we placed each shirt on its bag and filled in the rest of the colors. 
THAT was the easy part. 

These photos are from 2013 when we did a similar project.  I did not take photos this year, I guess. 

We knew from our last time doing this project that we had been too careful with our dyes and could have used more.  We applied the dye more generously this time.  We could have stood to be still MORE generous, we learned.

We tied them off in individual bags and stored them in a box on the floor.  This photo is also from 2013.

We let them soak four days this time around, as opposed to 24 hours the last time.  This was because we were too busy to get back to them again until Thursday night. 

Pretty cool, huh?