Creating Nerdy Shirts
I wanted to find a design that was exclusively “ME” and was different from other tie-dye creators. As my son told me - I needed a “hook” that would set me apart from others. I also wanted to design something that called to my nerdy self.
The designs I first tried were Baby Yoda, Princess Leia and the Tardis. I added on Loki and Harley mask. The hardest part - which I am currently going through - is waiting for my dyes to arrive from the company.
These styles are ones where you sew the design. The design has to be symmetrical. You find the center of the front of the shirt and then lay the template on it at the fold. I trace the design using a washable marker that is close to the color I will be dying the section. After it is all traced, I shade in the section so that I don’t get confused later during the dying process.
I use a dark brown upholstery thread to make small stitches around the design. The thread is folded in half. Once the sewing is all done, you draw up the thread and tighten it by tying it in a knot. This causes the area where the design is to be all bunched up. It does makes sense why many people just crumple up the shirt. I’ve been trying to do a fan fold for Loki but it is hard with both the sleeves. I will see if it works when I get my dyes in. It takes an hour to ninety minutes to do each shirt - sewing and tying the rest.
The other challenge is dying it. Most people who do the sewing technique use liquid dye with thickened dye for the design part. One artist (Meo Faustino) uses dyes prepared for Hot Water Infusion (HWI) on the whole shirt. I am going to try to see if I can do the thickened dye on the design and HWI or Ice Dye on the rest of the shirt. Crossing my fingers!
Above this is a set of 4 pictures. I tried to tie dye a Tardis. The shape was somewhat ambiguous. I ordered some fabric paint and painted the design. It took about 2 hours to get each one finished. I still need to get the light at the top of the Tardis painted in - waiting on the yellow paint.
The background was yellow and blue because I was trying to copy the “Exploding Tardis” background. Still debating on trying to create it using paint.
Worked on Baby Yoda shirts on 10/3. I will have to paint details but the design is pretty good. Going to tweak the stencil to make the green below the pink on ears thicker. Will post final pictures for all of the nerdy tie-dyes when I have them all finished and painted. Below is the “rough draft” of Baby Yoda
November 13: Revamped my Baby Yoda design. Set it to dye today. Will rinse and wash tomorrow! Hoping the simpler design will make it better. Will be adding highlight to eye in white and stars in what I hope is a galaxy design on the rest of the shirt!
