As long as psychedelics are in fashion, tie-dye is too. I’m all for the “DIY aesthetic”, but I’m a staunch advocate for actually doing it yourself. A cheeky tie-dye is a great way to give new life to an old garment, plus, dunking clothes into chemicals and watching the colours change is basically free therapy.
I’ve dabbled in both tying and dyeing - sometimes even simultaneously - but the upfront cost of store-bought fabric dye is intimidating, especially if you want multiple colours for tie-dye. Every flat carpet is aware that brightly coloured RTDs stain… but can they actually dye fabric? I set out on an ambitious drunk DIY adventure to see if I could tie-dye shirts with booze, but forgot to ask if I actually should. Spoiler alert: the answer to both is a hard no, but it could still be fun to experiment with yourself.
Dyeing something is different to staining: a stain is a stubborn substance that lies on top of the surface, while dyeing involves an actual bond between the dye and fibre to which it adheres. Dyeing isn’t just about the dye – it’s a complex reaction between pigment, fibre and chemical solution. Fibre choice is also particularly important, as most dyes work best on plant fibres like cotton, linen, or rayon, with more specialty dyes required to dye protein fibres (silk, wool, nylon) and synthetic fabrics (acrylic, polyester). Dyeing can take a lot of trial and error. In saying that, I ran a shitload of trials and ended up with a lot of errors.
Store-bought fabric dyes are basically witchcraft and come with everything you need, while naturally-derived dyes tend to need extra help. Usually, this is a dye fixative or mordant, which are metal salts like aluminium sulphate that react with the dye to adhere it. Popular at-home natural dyes include things like onion skins and red cabbage, which can be simmered into a pigmented dye. Red wine also contains tannin, a natural coloured pigment, and fruits like blackcurrants (or blackcurrant Scrumpy?) can also colour fabrics with varying success. On the other hand, artificial food dyes such as those found in RTDs are a completely different type of compound. Kool-Aid, which also contains artificial food dye, can be used to dye protein fibres and stain cottons. So why not dunk a t-shirt in Purple Goanna? Well, as I found out, there are quite a few reasons.
My Drunken Experiments
I spent a week op-shopping around for white clothes (I’m too grubby to own white) and picked up some slightly fugly white cotton shirts for a bargain ‘cos cotton is usually the best bet for dyeing fabrics. I also grabbed some nylon slips – made from protein fibre – to give the artificial RTD dyes a good chance. I had no idea what would work best for mordants or fixatives, so I went for the easiest and most common ones: salt, white vinegar, and soda ash (sodium carbonate or “washing soda”). Salt is used with commercial dyes to help the fabric absorb dye, vinegar is a strong acid and used for acid dyes, while soda ash is alkaline and a common dye assist. None of these are proper mordants, which are metallic compounds, and this is probably why they did jack shit. I did get some accidentally mordanting when the Scrumpy-dyed shorts turned bright blue around the zipper, likely due to reacting with the oxidising metal. Dyeing is full of surprises.
I started by soaking everything in vinegar for good measure, which was a bad idea. I tested three beloved brightly-coloured RTDs (Nitro, Purple Goannas, and raspberry Cruisers) plus a few naturally coloured bevvies (blackcurrant Old Mout and various red wines). I spent far too much money on the booze, but luckily drank most of it, which made the dyeing process significantly more chaotic (check out our video to see for yourself). Frankly, dyeing ten different items with different methods in the space of a couple hours went poorly. Add getting midday tipsy in front of three sober coworkers while rambling about pH to that and you have a bit of a hot, bubbly, wet mess.
Dyeing involves a lot of precise chemistry, which I suck at. I fucked up and kept adding bases to acids (rendering it useless) and dry-shovelling chemicals with my bare hands. Please don’t do that. However, once I finally got the gag-reflex-inducing smell out of my kitchen, I was able to get some decent results which you can replicate below.
How To Tie-Dye With Leftover Red Wine (or Berry Cider)
Red wine and blackcurrant Old Mout were the only ones that worked on cotton t-shirts, and were pretty successful. Despite the fuckery of my experiments, it’s simple when done right, and can be a fun project if you’ve got some leftover wine lying around. Don’t expect wine-red clothes – as a natural dye it comes out pretty muted, but you’ll still get pretty tie-dye patterns. The tannins found in red wine are a natural dye found in many plants and don’t typically need a mordant to set, and they vary widely throughout both the types and brands of wine. Shiraz, cabernet-sauvignon, and malbec are the reds with the strongest tannins, but different wines will result in different shades of pale lilacs, pinks, and burgundy. I had the most success with Fat Bird Vintage Red and Cleanskin Shiraz, though any cheap half-bottles of red wine will do.
You will need:
⦁ Half a bottle of red wine - ideally shiraz, cab-sav or malbec, but any will do
⦁ A white t-shirt or small, light-coloured garment - just check the tag to make sure it’s mostly cotton
⦁ Rubber bands or string (optional)
⦁ A squeeze bottle or plastic bottle (optional)
⦁ A saucepan and stovetop
Tie-dye method:
Pour the wine into a saucepan and simmer it for at least 10-20 minutes to concentrate it. This smells exactly how you’d think, and has the added bonus of fumigating your sinuses. To tie-dye, begin by slightly dampening your t-shirt with water – this will create a pattern with a smoother transition, but you could leave it dry for harsher contrast.
Next, lay the damp shirt out on a flat surface. Pinch the fabric in the centre of the shirt, and slowly start to twist the shirt into a compact spiral. Basically, purple-nurple that bitch. This part creates that classic tie-dye spiral, so take your time and redo it until you’re happy – rearrange the spiralled folds as you go to make it as tight as possible: the tie-dyed pattern comes from creating compact areas of fabric that the dye can’t penetrate. Secure your spiral-shirt-wad with rubber bands. You’ll want at least a couple, and they should cross over the spiral’s centre like spokes on a wheel.
Leave the wine to cool, and then pour it into a squeeze bottle. Water bottles like pump or Gatorade bottles work too – you just need something that’ll squirt. Don’t we all? Once you’ve got your shirt and wine prepared, it’s time to get dyeing. Either pour the wine all over the shirt until it’s saturated, or squirt it onto select rubber band sections for a looser spiral design.
All you have to do now is leave the wine-soaked shirt for at least a day, then rinse it until the water runs clear. Let it dry, and BAM. Tie-dyed wine shirt. After a wash, expect it to fade slightly. The colour can also turn slightly bluer from the alkaline laundry detergent, as the tannins are pH sensitive. It looks super sick though.
Stove dye method:
Once you’ve simmered your wine down on the stove, you can even dunk a shirt straight in without tying it first and then leave it on low heat for about an hour. Stir the shirt around for a more even colour, or keep it scrunched up for a patchy but funky design. You can also tie your shirt like a spiral as above, but use string instead of rubber bands because they’ll explode from the heat. I liked this method best as it creates a stronger colour, but it’s slightly more admin.
Blackcurrant and Scrumpy Old Mout
I dyed a pair of shorts with Blackcurrant and Scrumpy Old Mout using the stove dye method for pretty successful results. Cider also contains tannins, and blackcurrants can stain some fabric. I didn’t have high hopes, but ended up with VERY bright magenta shorts that turned a cute lavender after a wash (due to the pH reactivity) which I liked much better. Dyeing shit is fun and full of surprises.
Dyeing Nylon Lingerie with RTDs
Artificial food dyes in RTDs are synthetic acid dyes so they require an entirely different method. Plant fibres like the cotton used for natural dyes will not work, as our filmed tests quickly proved. However, dyeing clothes with RTDs is possible – just use a protein fibre (nylon, wool, silk) and don’t expect vibrant colour. It’s not very effective, but does produce a subtle pastel colour with funky gradients. So if you’re bored and happen to have a white nylon slip and a partial box of drinks: firstly, call me, and secondly, why not give it a whirl?
You will need:
⦁ About 750mls (3ish cans) of an artificial RTD. Purple Goanna and raspberry Cruisers were both successful, and created a pastel pink tint on white nylon. Bright red-based colours seemed to work best, and sugar-free options are less sticky to prep.
⦁ A garment made of nylon. White nylon lingerie like slip dresses and petticoats are cheap at most op shops, just check the tag to make sure it’s nylon. Results definitely vary, so don’t use your favourite clothes. We’re going to microwave it, so make sure there’s no metal like zips or buttons!
⦁ Microwave and large microwave-safe bowl
⦁ White vinegar
⦁ String (optional)
⦁ Saucepan and stovetop (optional)
Start by soaking your garment in white vinegar – longer (an hour or so) is better. Food-safe dyes are acid-based, vinegar gives it a little extra help and longevity.
For best results, simmer your RTDs down on the stove until they’re at half their volume, like we did for the wine. Make sure to deeply inhale the fumes.
Take your vinegar-soaked garment, wring it out a little, and prepare it for dyeing. You can spiral tie as described above, but this can be tricky with slippery nylons. Leave it untied for more even colour. I had pretty good success with simply folding the garment tightly and securing it with string – folding creates the patterns, and the possibilities are endless, so feel free to experiment. Just make sure you use string that won’t melt, because we’re about to microwave it (I rubber-banded mine, but apparently rubber bands can catch on fire when microwaved, so don’t do that).
Place your garment in a microwave-safe bowl, and pour the simmered-down booze on top until it’s fully covered. You can do this without reducing drinks on the stovetop first, but you’ll get more of a pale tint than a pastel design. Next, simply place it in the microwave and heat for 3-5 minutes, leave to cool, then repeat. Once you’re done, you can leave it to soak overnight just in case, or just scoop it out, give it a rinse and leave to dry.