How to Tie Dye With One Color: 5 Easy Techniques

Tie dye is such a fun activity for summer or anytime! These designs only require one color of tie dye but the results all end up so different!

Tie dye has made such a comeback in the last few years. I see lots of premade tie dye apparel in stores during the spring and summer, but it’s so much more fun to do it yourself!

If you’re new to tie dye or want some simple designs that only use a single color of dye, this post is for you! I’ve got five different tie dye techniques that you will love. Be sure to read through all my tips below for the best tie dye results.

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Supplies needed for one-color tie dye

• cotton t-shirts: You want to make sure your shirts have a high or 100% cotton content for the dye to bind to. I bought inexpensive craft shirts at Hobby Lobby.
• dye: I used a Tulip One-Step tie dye kit and had great results. If you’re going for super vibrant colors and more professional results, then you could use Procion dyes like these or these (I will definitely invest in the future once this Tulip kit runs out, but Tulip kits are a great way to get lots of dye colors for cheaper, plus they’re more readily available at craft stores).
• soda ash (depends on your dye): You do NOT need to presoak shirts in a soda ash solution with Tulip brand dye since soda ash is already mixed in with the dye powder.
• elastic bands or sinew: I only used the rubber bands that came in my Tulip tie dye kit, but sinew, which is a very strong waxed polyester thread, will give you better results for geode designs.
• plastic table cloth, drop cloth, etc. to protect your work surface (you could also tie dye outside)
• plastic bin and wire rack, optional: I got mine from Dollar Tree. They’re not necessary but I really like using them to keep my tablecloth clean, then I can just rinse the bin and rack between shirts.
• disposable gloves or rubber gloves: your tie dye kit may come with some
• gallon Ziploc bags (you could also use plastic wrap, but I feel like plastic bags retain moisture better over long periods)
• buckets and dish soap for rinsing: I used Dawn dish soap (which my son insists is only for washing ducks because of the image on the soap bottle 😂), but you could opt for a more natural dish soap if doing baby onesies, etc.
• paper towels: handy to have close by for drops or for wiping gloves in between steps

How long does it take to tie dye a shirt?

Not going to lie, tie dyeing shirts is a process, so plan on a few days before your shirts are ready to wear. There’s a little bit of active time, but a lot of it is waiting time.

I like to prewash shirts and tie dye on slightly damp shirts (I just pull them straight from my washer after the regular spin cycle), so plan on 20-30 minutes for this prewash. The prewash is also a necessary step to remove sizing from your shirts–sizing is a substance added to clothing at the factory to give the material body, but it resists the dye.

Set up your tie dye area with a plastic tablecloth and get everything ready. Once your shirt is washed, tie it into your chosen pattern with rubber bands. (I washed all my shirts together, then tied them all at once, putting finished ones back in a plastic bag to stay damp until I dyed them.)

Mixing the dyes and the actual dyeing goes quite fast and is definitely the most fun part.

Once dyed, you’ll put your shirt in a Ziploc bag and let it sit in a warm place for 24-72 hours (this is the long part). Tulip says you only need to let it sit 8 hours, but I like to give it more time for the dye to hopefully turn out more vibrant (not sure if it makes a huge difference, but it doesn’t hurt either). I think I actually waited as long as 5 days for a couple of my shirts–mostly because timing didn’t work out to rinse them sooner–and they were fine.

Rinsing shirts actually takes longer than you might think to get all the unbonded dye out (maybe an hour or so), then you’ll wash them a final time in your washer and then hang to dry (which I do overnight).

All in all, you’re looking at a few hours of active time but then 3-5 days of inactive/waiting time before your shirts can be worn. Plan accordingly if you’re on a deadline!

How to rinse tie dye: the best way!

I’ll show you how I tied and dyed all my shirts below, but the rinsing/washing process is the same for all of them (though I do recommend rinsing different colors separately, at least at first).

After you’ve let your dyed shirts sit for awhile (I’d say at least 24 hours), you’ll want to rinse the shirts to remove any unbonded dye (you’ll notice how much darker my wet shirts appear below, which is partly due to them being wet but also because a lot of the dye is sitting on the surface and hasn’t actually bonded to the fibers in the shirt–this is what we’re rinsing out).

I use a bathtub and a couple buckets when rinsing, but you can also use a sink or even a hose outside. Some people leave the rubber bands in for the first rinses, but I removed all mine at the beginning (and I didn’t have any issues with dye running–see more about how to prevent running below).

Start with cold running water and rinse the shirts until the water runs mostly clear. I did two shirts at a time and would soak one shirt in a bucket of cold water while rinsing the other, then switch. I repeated that a few times until the last rinse under the faucet was mostly clear water.

While still rinsing under the faucet, I turned the water gradually warmer, then filled a bucket with warm water (or hot water). Squirt a small amount of dish soap into the bucket and swish the shirt around to continue removing excess dye. Continue to rinse, either in the bucket (empty and fill with fresh water as needed) or under the faucet until the water runs mostly clear and the soap is rinsed out.

Carefully transfer your shirts to your washing machine (be careful not to drip on your flooring or carpet!) and wash your shirts with a little detergent. (I didn’t have any issues washing all my different-colored shirts together at this point.)

It’s up to you whether you want to wash in cold or hot water: cold water may be all you need, but if you’re worried about excess dye in your shirts staining future laundry loads, you can wash on hot to be sure all the extra dye gets washed out (just be aware that you might have more fading). I believe I washed all my shirts on Tap Cold.

I recommend that you hang dry tie dye shirts rather than using your dryer, at least for the first few times after wearing/washing the shirts. The heat from the dryer can actually cause more fading, so use a low temperature or air dry setting if you absolutely have to.

How do you rinse tie dye without it running?

To retain the crisp white lines in spaces of your design that didn’t get dyed, you’ll want to make sure the dye doesn’t run during the rinsing process. I find that using cold water first (for several rinses), then gradually moving to warm will keep the unbonded dye from redepositing on the shirt in white spaces. Cold water will get most of the excess dye and soda ash out (preventing any further reaction and bonding on unwanted areas), then you can use hot water after to finish getting the excess dye out.

Do you need gloves when rinsing tie dye?

This is up to you. You probably should, but I find the loose disposable gloves are a nuisance when rinsing (you’re probably going to get water in them) so I ultimately took them off. My hands did get stained slightly pink after rinsing the fuschia shirts, but it went away within a day.

How to tie dye shirts

I know I’m being a little redundant, but here are the basic tie dye steps that apply to all the shirts below (and any tie dye shirt) using a Tulip tie dye kit:

1. Prewash shirt in the washing machine with a little detergent (but skip the fabric softener).
2. Tie shirt in preferred pattern with rubber bands (this is easiest on a flat surface).
3. Fill dye squeeze bottle with HOT water and shake to mix well, use immediately.
4. Apply dye to your shirt, front and back or as technique requires.
5. Place dyed shirt in plastic bag and let sit in warm place for 24-72 hours.
6. Rinse and wash shirt according to rinsing directions above.
7. Hang shirt to dry.

How to tie dye with one color

There are lots of ways to tie dye a shirt using only one color of dye.

Here are 5 easy designs to try that only require a single color:

Single color spiral

A simple spiral tie dye pattern is the most common. Rainbow spirals are classic, but single color spirals can be beautiful too! They’re also a little more subtle than traditional rainbow spirals, which you might appreciate.

To make a spiral, lay your shirt out flat and find the center of the shirt (roughly at the level of the armpits and centered from the middle of the neckline). Pinch the front and back of the shirt in your fingers and begin twisting in a circular direction. The shirt will start to form pleats, which you can separate and define with your fingers as you twist.

I will admit that I twisted these shirts quickly so my spirals might not be as perfect as some (I was okay with that). If you really want to get particular about how you fold spiral tie dye shirts, you can use a hemostat–check out YouTube tutorials for how to get perfect spirals. (Funny to think that the last time I used a hemostat was as a surgical tech out of high school…I’d say my career path has changed a bit. 😆)

Continue twisting the shirt, incorporating the sleeves as you go. Once completely twisted, use three rubber bands to stretch around the shirt and hold it in place.

Follow the instructions in your tie dye kit to mix the dye. For Tulip One-Step kits, open a dye bottle and fill with really HOT water to the line on the bottle (or a little less if you want a more concentrated dye). Shake carefully (but well) to dissolve. My dye bottles were small, so they didn’t go as far as I hoped, but it actually worked out in the end to have some areas be lighter or white.

Apply dye to both sides of the shirt (use half the dye bottle, then flip the shirt over to dye the other side). Put the dyed shirt in a gallon Ziploc bag and place in a warm area for 24-72 hours (it’s summer, so I put my shirts in my garage).

Here’s what my shirt looked like immediately after removing the rubber bands:

And my completed shirt after rinsing, washing, and air drying (see rinsing instructions above):

P.S. This shirt is actually much darker/more vibrant in person but my lighting washed it out in the photo here.

Monochrome (ombré) spiral

For a slight variation on the single color spiral, you can gradually dilute your dye bottle to get a monochrome or ombré effect.

Tie your shirt in a spiral as pictured above. The three rubber bands form six sections on your shirt.

Mix your dye bottle with hot water.

Choose one section to dye with full strength, using about 1/3 or 1/2 the dye bottle. (Be sure to flip the shirt to dye both sides of the shirt each time you do this.)

Add more hot water to the dye bottle to fill it back to the top. Dye the two neighboring sections with this 50% dye concentration. Use half the bottle of dye again, or a little more if needed.

Refill the bottle again to achieve roughly a 25% dye solution (my percentages are very much estimates, just to give you an idea of the dilutions). Dye the next two neighboring sections, reserving just a little dye in the bottle.

Fill the dye bottle up half way with more hot water and dye the remaining section.

Your dyed shirt should look something like this:

Place the shirt in a Ziploc bag and let sit in a warm place for 24-72 hours. Follow the rinsing and washing instructions above.

I did two shirts with this technique. My first one, the purple shirt, didn’t come out quite as ombré as expected (you might think it was just a basic spiral, even though there are dark and light variations).

So I dyed a second shirt, the blue one, being a little more exact with my dilutions this time. And the monochrome spiral pops much more.

(Again, I think this shirt is a little washed out in the photo and appears more vibrant in person.)

Single color crumple

Crumple tie dye is probably the easiest way to tie dye a shirt! As the name implies, all you have to do is crumple or bunch the shirt before dyeing. After crumpling, you can use rubber bands to hold the shirt in place.

I applied dye randomly, leaving plenty of spaces white. Use half the bottle, then flip the shirt over to finish dyeing the back in the same way.

Place the shirt in a Ziploc bag and let sit in a warm place for 24-72 hours. Follow the rinsing and washing instructions above.

This technique is a great one to try with ice dyeing. Depending on your quality of dye, you can get super fun color splits. Ice dyeing is on my to-try-next list!

Ombré stripes

If you’re looking for a more subtle tie dye shirt, this ombré striped shirt is a great technique to try! I actually think these shirts would make a great base for applying a vinyl design afterwards.

Lay your damp shirt out flat, then use three rubber bands to create four sections from bottom to top.

Fill your dye bottle to the top with hot water and mix. Apply dye, starting on the bottom section of the shirt. Flip or rotate the shirt to make sure you’re tie dyeing the entire shirt.

Refill the dye bottle with hot water to dilute the dye, then apply to the next section. Continue dyeing and diluting, finishing with the most diluted dye at the top.

While dyeing, rinse your gloves in between so you don’t accidentally get more concentrated dye in lighter ares.

Also, when placing this ombré shirt in a bag to sit for 24-72 hours, you’ll want to do so carefully so the darker sections of the shirt don’t touch and bleed onto the lighter ones (you can see below how I snaked the shirt carefully inside the bag). Handle the lighter end of the shirt first so your gloves don’t transfer the darker dye. Then make sure to transfer and lay the bag in a flat spot so the shirt stays in this position.

I did the pink shirt first and kind of messed up the technique…you’ll see where some of my darker areas bled onto the lighter ones. But I’m going to call them happy accidents because I still love this shirt! (Also, yes, there are some yellow areas on the shirt because I think the pink dye split a little.)

I was a little more careful on the blue shirt and it turned out a lot more like I anticipated. The only thing I might change next time is to not completely saturate the shirt in dye…I wish I had more white areas like classic tie dye.

For a variation on this ombre striped shirt, scrunch the shirt from top to bottom and place rubber bands from left to right so you end up with vertical stripes instead of horizontal stripes.

Single color geode

Geode tie dye might be my favorite of all these designs!

For this shirt, you’ll only tie one side of the shirt at a time (versus the other designs that keep the front and back together while you tie).

First, decide where you want your geodes to be. I did a couple near the shoulders and one lower on the waist, then one on the side/back. Try to avoid the chest area…you know, so you don’t accidentally make geodes that frame the ta tas.

Start with a 1 to 1.5 inch section of shirt and pinch it between your fingers. Then bunch it together and gather it into a rubber band. Twist the rubber band in the same spot multiple times until it’s quite tight. The tighter the rubber band, the more likely you’ll have distinct white lines to form the rings of the geode. (This is why most professional tie-dyers use sinew instead of rubber bands on geode designs since you can pull it extra tight against the t-shirt material.)

Continue adding rubber bands and pulling more of the shirt into them, forming arm-like “projections” out of the shirt. For a more organic look, you can vary how much material you’re gathering in the rubber band each time. So, some rings will be closer together and some will be spaced further apart.

Once you have four or five rubber bands placed, you can start on your other geodes, repeating this process. Continue to the back of the shirt as well. I had an awkward area at the end that I didn’t know how to tie up, which is why I have kind of an oblong geode across the back. I think some more practice will improve my geode-tying skills.

Keep adding rubber bands until the geodes meet and the shirt looks like an octopus (I can’t think of how else to describe it at the moment, haha).

A single dye bottle doesn’t go too far, especially when your shirt is tied with the front and back separate like this, so I purposely left white areas where I tied the rubber bands, concentrating the dye in between the rubber bands first. Rotate the shirt to fill in as many bulky white areas as you can until your dye runs out. (I still didn’t have enough dye so I ended up diluting the last little bit to stretch it further.)

Even though I used rubber bands to tie this geode shirt, I thought my results were still pretty impressive! This was my first time attempting any kind of geode shirt so I’m super happy with how it turned out. I think it also helped that I used a dark dye color for the best contrast in the geodes.

Here is the shirt immediately after removing the rubber bands:

And my completed shirt after rinsing, washing, and air drying:

One Color Tie Dye Techniques

I hope you found this tie dye tutorial helpful! There are so many fun ways to tie dye out there, even if you only want to use a single color. Remember, even though I used t-shirts to demonstrate these techniques, you can dye lots of other items in the same way–just be sure they’re 100% cotton for the best results.

Happy tie dyeing!

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