Our team name for the 3 Rivers race was “Old and Bold”. Harley drew a picture of an old man with a cane as the “O” in Old, and a young, strong man as the “O” in Bold. I converted it to an electronic picture, and we used it as the graphic on our shirts. The “smiley” I used for the old man is using a walker, but you can’t tell very well in this picture.
Before I could draw the design onto our shirts, I had to tie-dye them. I had the Tie Dye Kit and the white shirts in my craft box from quite a while ago when I was going to do a project with the girls that I never got to.
The first step was to coil up the shirts and “tie” them with rubber bands. I decided I wanted to dye them in a spiral pattern, so I followed the directions on the box to create it.
Next I applied the dye in different patterns on each shirt.
The final step for the first day was to wrap each shirt in plastic wrap and let them sit over night.
On day two, I unwrapped the shirts and rinsed them in warm water until the water ran clear (similar to what you have to do when you’re dying your hair).
After rinsing each shirt individually, I soaked them in a bucket with hot water until I had them all rinsed out. After they were all rinsed, it was time for a scalding hot trip through the washing machine followed by a cycle on the hottest dryer setting possible to set the color.
I think the colors turned out great – very bold and bright, just what I was looking for!
Once the shirts were all dry and I cut out the graphic from paper, it was time for my mom and me to trace the design onto each shirt with a sharpie and then I filled it in with fabric paint. I also had some black iron-on letters, so I put our names on the back of our shirts, as well.
I absolutely love the way they turned out, and from all the great comments we got during and after the race, I think other people loved them, too!
Nature Girl. Mom. Wife. Friend. Photographer. Sewer. Crafter. Artist.
To borrow a phrase – “Yeet Ye Riche”
