Shibori Tea Towels

So if you have been following Yellow Room for a while, I’m sure at this point you have noticed my love for Shibori. I have dyed shirts, dresses, blankets, tea towels, and more. Pretty much anything that is off white, stained, or just needs a little face lift. I LOVE IT!! Not only is it super cute, but it’s also pretty simple and really hard to mess up! That’s something that I really love about Shibori is that even if you have no idea what you are doing- it’s still going to end up very cool and unique.

Now there are hundreds of ways to create Shibori patterns using twine, popsicle sticks, rubber bands, clothespins, bulldog clips, and more. Shibori uses these tools to create spots/ areas on fabric that are not exposed to the dye- creating a unique pattern. You can find so many cool patterns and instructions, but today, I’m going to share with you 3 simple patterns for tea towels. So who’s ready to get started?!?

Supplies:

1. Tea Towels: You can get a pack of 4 from Target for about $4 or if you are planning on making a lot at once it is cheaper to buy them in bulk. You can purchase them here from Amazon.

2. Rubber Bands, Popsicle Sticks, and Twine for binding fabric

3. Latex Gloves

4. RIT Dye Denim Blue and ColorStay Fixative: You can usually find these at any craft store, but sometimes Hobby Lobby doesn’t have it so I usually find it at Michael’s. You can also find it here on Amazon.

5. A large bucket: I use a 5-gallon painters bucket from Home Depot and it holds a lot. I would definitely suggest this if you are dying larger items or a lot at once.

6. Small pieces of plastic/wood : I cut mine out of a yard sign. This worked really well because it kept its shape and I’ve been able to reuse them for multiple projects. You could also probably find small pieces of wooden squares at any craft store.

Pattern No. 1: We will start with the Popsicle Stick towel. So I began by folding the tea towel in half twice and then folding it in half once the other way (really it doesn’t matter how you get that fold- as long as its folded long ways like a hotdog). I then took my popsicle sticks and rubber bands and began creating those patterns of resistance. I placed a popsicle stick on both sides of the towel, lined them up, and bound them together with a rubber band. Make sure you tighten those rubber bands as much as possible. Repeat on both sides and all the way down the towel. Leave about an inch between each set of sticks. It’s pretty simple, huh?!

Pattern No. 2: Up next is the towel with the twine. For this tea towel I started by laying it out completely flat. I took 2 opposite corners and pulled it tight. I began twisting the corners so that the towel becomes a strand of twisted fabric. I folded that over twice long ways. (Again, the twisting and folding doesn’t have to be perfect- it just creates different areas of resistance to the dye). I then took the twine and started wrapping it tightly around the fabric. Make sure you are pulling it tight. You can create any pattern you want here. When you are done, tie off the end.

Pattern No. 3: The last pattern we will do today is the square bubble pattern. This is one of my favorite patterns for shibori!! So for this one I fold the tea towel down the middle once. I take my small square pieces and set it under the fabic (both layers together) I pick it up with the fabric and wrap a rubber band around the square. It creates this little square bubble. I repeat this until all the fabric is wrapped around the square pieces. (see photo above for example!)

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So once you have you pattern on your tea towels, you are ready to put them in the dye bath. Grab your Rit Dye bottle of Denim Blue and follow the directions on the bottle. These will differ, depending on how much fabric you are dying and the size of your bucket. Once you have read and followed the directions of prepping your dye bath- you are ready to go! Place your tea towels into the bucket and start your timers. I usually leave my items in for about 30 min. Make sure that you stir the contents 3-4 times during the 30 minutes.

Once your 30 min is up, pour out the dye bath and rinse the towels in hot water. I would suggest wearing your gloves during this step, because the dye is pretty strong! You don’t want to have frostbite hands for the next few days!! Don’t remove any of the sticks, twine, or rubber bands yet! We still need to let them soak in the color fixative for 30 min so they keep their color longer! Wash out the bucket and grab your Rit ColorStay Fixative. Follow directions on bottle to prepare the next bath. Once you have prepared it, put the towels in the bucket and set your timer for another 30 min.

Once the 30 min is up, you can go ahead and pour out the water and rinse the towels once more in hot water. You can remove all the sticks, rubber bands, and twine. and THERE YA GO!!! Check out all your hard work and patience.

Popsicle Sticks

Twine

Square pieces

I hope you all enjoyed this super fun Shibori project. Let me know if you have any questions or if you try the project out!! I’d love to see process pics and your end product!!

If you want to try this project out, but don’t want to go through all the work by yourself, check out our workshops page. We have local classes every month and there might be a Shibori one coming up soon!! Come and hangout with us at Yellow Room and let your creative juices flow!! See y’all soon!

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Recycled T-Shirt Bag

Hey everyone! So I went to Aldi the other day and of course I had forgotten my reusable bag. I have been telling myself over and over again to leave a bag in my car so I will always have one when I need it. Instead of grabbing one of the bags at check out, I decided I would just wait and make my own at home! I had seen a DIY T-shirt bag on Pinterest before and knew it would be fun and easy.

Now there is one problem- a lot of these DIYs required a sewing machine and although I try my hand in a lot of different crafts- I have not been able to master that of sewing. So I had to find a no-sew option and I DID! I’ll be sharing it with you today!

Another plus to this DIY- this bag is 100% washable- so if it gets dirty or something spills on it, you can just throw it in the wash like a regular t-shirt.

Today we are going to be taking an old T-Shirt and recycling it into a reusable bag. You can keep this bag in your car for your ALDI runs or carry all your craft supplies! It’s the perfect size for both!

SUPPLIES:

1. T-Shirt (larger size=larger bag)

2. Scissors (Fabric works best)

I decided to buy a 2XL t-shirt from the thrift store, so it would be large enough to carry groceries! The bigger the shirt= the bigger the bag!

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Step 1: Cut the Arms off

If it helps to follow a line, get a magic marker and make a line running about an inch parallel to the sleeve seam.

Step 2: Cut the Neck of the T-shirt lower

I freehanded the oval neckline, but again if you prefer to follow a line- you can draw on the shirt with a magic marker. I cut about 2-3 inches down the neckline for the opening of the bag.

Step 3: Cut Slits on bottom of Shirt

Now grab your scissors and cut slits from the bottom of the shirt up about 2.5-3 inches long and about an inch wide. You’ll want to cut both the front and back layers together because they need to match up for the next step.

Step 4: Tie fringe pieces together

Grab your shirt and turn it inside out and lay it so both layers match up. You will begin tying the front & back pieces together and double knotting them! You will do this all the way across the bottom of the shirt. Make sure you pull them tight to close any gaps between fringes!

Go ahead and grab your shirt and turn it back right side out and VOILA! You have now successfully created a recycled t-shirt bag! Give yourself a round of applause! I hope you all had a fun time with this simple DIY. This is a fun afternoon activity with kids or a quick DIY with friends. If you try it out, let me know by commenting below or sharing a photo on social media and tagging us in it. We’d love to see your new bag!

Embroidered Dog Bandanas

So we have two pups at home- Etta and Moose- and they really are our babies!! We buy them way too many treats and spoil them with bow ties and toys. We have bought them costumes and hats in the past but honestly they kinda hate those-whoops. BUT one thing they LOVE to wear are their bandanas! I especially thought it would be cute if they were matching and if they were personalized! These embroidered bandanas areso easy and doesn’t require many supplies. You might even have bandanas at home that you can use for this project!

Supplies:

1. Bandana

2. Needle and thread

3. Scissors

4. A cute pupper

5. Pencil

6. 6 inch Embroidery Hoop (not a necessity, but makes it easier!!)

Whenever I was preparing for this project, I realized all the bandanas at our house were kind of old and ripped up, so I decided to just buy some new ones! I went to the store and bought the bright red pack. I went ahead and embroidered Moose on one of them to try out the DIY and the color of the bandana was so bright that I could barely see his name. UGH. I wanted that faded, older look so I started looking into some different options to kind of “fake it”. I saw some that suggested bleach, but wasn’t sure about that. I’ve been using Rit Dye for a lot of my projects lately so I decided to see if they had any options. They had a color reduction powder that helps remove tough stains and reduces bright colors, so I thought that would be perfect to try! I followed the directions on the box and placed my bright red bandanas in the water and 20 seconds later (yeah it was that quick) the color had already changed to a mustardy yellow! Now this wasn’t exactly the color I was going for, but I actually really like it now!

So with all that being said- if you have older, faded bandanas- use those! The thread will show up better. If you must buy some new ones, I would probably wash them a few times before you start this project!

1. Start by cutting the bandana in half (or if you have a very small dog cut a 12’ square) making sure to leave the finished edge of one corner intact. If you are using an embroidery hoop, place the edge of the bandana in the hoop and tighten.

2. Grab your pencil and lightly trace the name across the corner. I went with a classic cursive script, but you could do whatever type of writing you’d like. If you aren’t sure about the size, try drawing it on a piece of paper first and fitting it on there.

3. Thread your needle and knot the end. Using a back stitch, start at one end of the name and work your way to the end. Knot the end of the thread and trim off any excess.

and Voila!! You have yourself a super cute and personalized Dog Bandana!! I really loved this project because it was quick (about 25 min), cheap (I think I spent $10 and have plenty to do at least 4 more!) and they made my puppers look even cuter than usual!! I can’t wait to take them to the dog park with their matching bandanas.

P.S. If you like this project, but not sure about doing it yourself, send me a message on FB!! We may can work out a custom order:)

Our first step into the blog-o-sphere

Hey there!! I’m so very excited to announce the official Yellow Room blog! I have enjoyed exploring different DIYs, craft, and projects to get ready for workshops and I have found so many that I haven’t even had the chance to share yet. I have also found crafts that I LOVE, but no luck on finding good instructions. It got me thinking that I could create a place where all these amazing DIYs-with full instructions and clear photos- could be found- and that is when Yellow Room Blog was born.

If you are new here- then HI!!! My name is Presley Langley and I am the founder of Yellow Room. My other titles include: Workshop teacher, designer, pom pom maker, cleaning lady, party planner, and so much more. Yellow Room started as a Freelance Design Co. but quickly evolved into a DIY Studio. We teach workshops on hand lettering (my personal fav) cookie decorating, slime making, pompom garlands, painting, and the list goes on….We’ve been at it for almost 2 years now and it has been so much FUN. I get to try all these different projects and fill my home and life with creativity, color, and lots of yarn and glitter!! It’s the best. Besides workshops, we also host parties, paint murals, have private classes, go to craft events, and freelance design on the side. When I’m not at the studio or at my other job, I enjoy lettering on my ipad, binge watching Netflix, hanging out with my pup Moose (the cutest dog in the whole world), drinking diet coke and eating Chick-fil-A (not a sponsored post lol) and hanging with my family and friends!!

“My vision for this blog is it is a place where you can go to be inspired by lettering projects, entertained by slime videos, and encouraged to push your creativity limits with easy to follow projects and instructions. ”

— Presley

So back to the blog…My vision for this blog is it is a place where you can go to be inspired by lettering projects, entertained by slime videos, and encouraged to push your creativity limits with easy to follow projects and instructions. We will have DIYs for all ages, so there will be something for everyone! Some of our blog ideas include candle making, cyanotypes, pompom wreath making, string art, screenprinting, slime making, and more! So when you are sitting at home bored or want to do a craft night with friends- make sure you come back and check out all the projects here at Yellow Room Blog. We have a full lineup of DIYs that are sure to be fun, creative, and simple enough to complete without wanting to throw your glue gun out the window!!!

P.S. I love hearing back from all you awesome people, so leave some comments!! I’d love to hear about some projects that y’all want to see!