- I also wore them for my color guard uniform.
- China flats are one of the styles that always fit my weird kid sized feet and don’t give me blisters.
I dyed these shoes
with a Tulip Tie Dye Kit. (affiliate link)
It was easier and less messy than that fussy stuff in a bucket.
I didn’t anticipate how hard it was going to be to find a
pair of China
flats! I finally bought a new pair off eBay for $2.99. The price is right but
the color is a bore.
Husband suggested I dye the shoes and make them more uniquely
me. The only problem is I am a complete Girl Scout camp tie dye failure. My tie-dye t shirt epic failed and the mean girls at camp made fun of me when we wore our shirts for the big camp talent show.
I’ve run screaming from all “hey, let’s do a tie dye craft
with the kids!” activities ever since. True story.
This is a good time to face my tie dye fears, don’t you
think?
You will need:
Cotton Chinese Mary Jane Shoes (MUST be cotton or another
100% natural fiber)
Tulip surface cover or plastic trash bag (recommended big
time!)
Rock salt and/or uniodized sea salt (In the past using iodized table salt lead
to major fails. Don’t be me.)
Star cookie cutter or template
Pencil
Scissors
Straight pins
Fabric glue
Needle
Thread
Make it:
Make it:
1. Wash the sizing out of the cotton shoes and a section of the
canvas drop cloth. Do not use fabric softener.
2. Fill the premixed (and key to my tie dying success) bottle
of blue Tulip fabric tie-dye with water and shake to mix the color per the
directions in the kit.
3. Spread a Tulip plastic surface cover or trash bag on the
ground outside. I recommend you do this outside, even though the squirt bottles
makes dying less messy than that big tub of dye at Girl Scout camp, it
never hurts to err on the side of easier clean up.
4. WEAR THE GLOVES THAT COME IN THE KIT. Unless you want blue hands. The dye is nontoxic so that's not the issue. Walking around with Smurf hands until the dye wears off could be though.
4. WEAR THE GLOVES THAT COME IN THE KIT. Unless you want blue hands. The dye is nontoxic so that's not the issue. Walking around with Smurf hands until the dye wears off could be though.
5. While the shoes are wet, squirt the dye on the wet shoes. Make
sure you cover the entire shoe with blue dye.
6. Sprinkle uniodized rock salt and/or sea salt onto
the dyed shoes to add texture. The dye will not penetrate where you sprinkle
the salt.
If you don't have rock salt leftover from winter or are a lucky duck who lives in a warm area that doesn't require rock salt, Tulip sells little packets of salt resist salt.
Caution: I stuffed my shoes with plastic bags hoping the dye wouldn’t penetrate to the inside sole of the shoe. The dye got through anyway. I also think having a less than flat surface interfered with the salt resist technique. The salt resist didn’t come out as well on my shoes as it did on my flat test t shirt. I like the texture I got on my shoes but I wish it was a little more pronounced like on my test project.
7. Place the dyed shoes in a plastic bag and allow the color
to cure. The directions say to leave it in the bag 4-6 hours. I left mine in
the bag overnight.
8. Fold the section of canvas drop cloth like an accordion
while it is wet. Wrap the rubber bands that come in the kit around the folded
fabric every 1 to 2 inches.
Folding tie dye technique
9. Fill the premixed bottle
of red Tulip fabric tie dye with water and shake to mix the color per the
directions in the kit.
10. Place the banded fabric on the surface cover, put on the
gloves, and squirt red dye on the fabric.
This looks like something out of a horror movie, doesn't it?
11. Place the dyed fabric in a plastic bag and allow the
color to cure. The directions say to leave it in the bag 4-6 hours. I left mine
in the bag over night.
12. Remove the shoes and fabric from their respective
plastic bags. Remove/cut the rubber bands from the folded fabric.
The folding tie dye worked. Yay me!
13. Rinse the excess dye from the fabric and shoes with cold
water.
14. Wash the shoes and fabric in a large load of water with a small amount of
laundry soap.
15. Dry the shoes and fabric in the dryer to set the dye.
It's difficult to tell in this photo but the salt resist creates a nice visual texture on the shoes.
16. Place the star cookie cutter on the tie dyed fabric.
Trace around the cookie cutter with a pencil and cut it out with the scissors.
Cut two stars from the fabric.
Cutting time!
18. Use the fabric glue to glue the stars to the toe of each shoe.
19. Once the fabric glue is dry, use the needle and thread
to sew the star to the shoe. This will ensure the glue keeps the star on the
shoe, is a barrier for fraying fabric, and adds interest.
20. Wear those shoes out on the town!
I love how my shoes came out! The salt resist adds texture
to the shoe. The folded tie dye technique I used on the drop cloth adds to the
rustic Americana
feel I wanted. I am so working these shoes Fourth of July weekend!
A big thank you to Tulip for sending me this easy tie dye
kit and getting me over my tie dye fears. Tulip Tie Dye Kits are available at
Walmart, Walmart Canada ,
Michaels, JoAnn Fabrics, A.C. Moore, Hobby Lobby, Hancock Fabrics, and Meijer. The tie dye kit
contents and colors may vary by store. You can also connect with Tulip on
twitter @ilovetocreate, Facebook,
and Pinterest!
Pin this tutorial for later and share it with your friends on Pinterest!
Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or to Condo Blues by Email.
Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with iLoveToCreate.com and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.
Further Disclosure: I'm not a tie-dye failure anymore. In fact, I'm kinda hooked on it now.
Further Disclosure: I'm not a tie-dye failure anymore. In fact, I'm kinda hooked on it now.
12 comments :
Such a fun project. I must get myself some of those Mary Janes - I had a few pairs in high school too!
Love them! I didn't know the salt trick--I'll definitely be using it for future projects.
I didn't realize there were other ways to tie dye something other than making the traditional tie dye circles (FAIL) either. I learned how to do the salt resist dying and folding dying here http://bit.ly/beyondthetshirt. They have other techniques I want to try like dying fabric with liquid dye and sprinkling it with dry dye powder.
Love how your pink fabric turned out. It's so vivid.
Those came out super cute! I also luvvv china girl flats, urban outfitters has a really cute supply of them now. Fun colors & even cuter prints. They're pretty cheap too!
Thanks--I'll definitely check it out!
Gorgeous! I wore them in high school as well but my feet seem to need more support now. Thanks for the instructions!
Sue Clarke
Super cute! Love that you took this project out of the box!
~Heather
What a great idea! I love the addition of the red star, these would be perfect to wear to a 4th of July picnic.
I was just wondering, where did you get the shoes off of Ebay (like which seller)? Also, are the shoes wearable outside or do they have soft bottoms like slippers?
Thanks!
The seller doesn't have any more auctions. I found more on eBay searching for "China flat shoes" and "Chinese Mary Jane shoes" though.
The shoes have a rubber sole. You can wear them outside and around town like a regular summer shoe.
These are too cute! I love that tie dying finally worked for you, even if it did look like a murder scene. I bet adding a fabric flower would be cute too. Thanks for sharing on Tout It Tuesday!
Post a Comment
I love comments and read them all! If you’re shy and don’t want your opinions made public, you can always email me at condoblues [at] gmail [dot] com.