Buy or Dye: the ultimate tie dye fail

You win some, you lose some. Isn’t that the old saying? I seriously went into this project thinking how hard can it be to dye tie some fabric and turn it into a garment? And even though it’s not a winner (in fact, I doubt I would even get an honorable mention ribbon), I’d be damned if I was going to throw all that time and energy spent into the garbage. So alas, I will share with you the story behind my not-so-fabulous DIY tie dyed tunic.
I originally saw this tunic on sale at a local boutique here in Charleston, but they only had a size XS left. So of course a light bulb went off in my head and told me, “hey you can make one yourself!” I spent several late nights on Pinterest researching the best tips for tie dying on knit fabric. At first I thought I should buy black fabric and dye it white. When I found no concrete evidence on the inter webs proving that you can dye black fabric using white dye, I canceled that plan. My plan B was to use bleach to create the tie dyed affect on black fabric. However once again, my research lead me astray when I saw that it would only turn the bleached areas into a yellowish- cream color instead of the brilliant white that I was hoping for. So plan C was to buy white fabric and use black dye. The black dye would easily be picked up by the white fabric and I could use a “scrunched” technique to get the white areas to look the way I wanted. Sounds easy enough, right? Or so I thought…

Here’s what I did. First I washed and dried my fabric. Then I laid the fabric out and began scrunching it inwards:
I then used black RIT dye in a squeeze bottle and saturated my fabric. I left it here for 30 minutes to really soak in. (Honestly, I am humbled that you are still reading up to this point because… spoiler alert, it does not end well).
Once I felt like my dye was really set in place, I took it outside to the swing set and hung it out to air dry. Then I did a little dance move because I was so proud of myself. It turned out just like I had envisioned. But then it happened. I decided to wash it. I knew I would have to wash the fabric eventually once it became a garment and I wore it. So I maybe I should give it one last wash before I cut out my tunic pattern. But for reasons beyond my tired brain’s comprehension, the dye bleed and turned the white into a light gray and the black into a dark purple. So I said a few four letter words, left, went to story time with Liam, then to the fabric store to buy ANOTHER two yards of white fabric, and then did it all over again. The second time around, I did some more research and decided that I should dye the fabric while it was still wet, dunk it into a bowl of black dye instead of using a squeeze bottle, and THEN re-wash it. So I did all those steps and still ended up with a purple gray mess. But I followed Tim Gunn’s advice and made it work. I went ahead and cut out a tunic pattern, Paired with black leggings, boots, and a floppy hat, it ended up being no too shabby of an outfit for a day around town.
If anyone has any advice on how to tie dye white and black knit fabric without it bleeding, let me know! I doubt I will try this again, and next time I may just choose to buy instead of DIY. But it was fun while it lasted and maybe, just maybe, the tunic isn’t THAT bad. Maybe.