Faux Camoflauge – A Tutorial

I love different color camouflage…but could someone please tell me what someone in pink and purple camouflage is trying to blend into? A Dora Episode?

Anyways, I was trying to come up with a simple way to make something that kinda looked like camouflage. Below is what I came up with and it worked pretty well for the look that I was going for (click here to see how I did the hearts):

Step 1: I took some white cotton interlock fabric and soaked it in 2 gallons of water with about 1/4 cup of table salt in it. Then I took the fabric out, squeezed the excess water out and set it aside.

Step 2: I cut a 3′ x 3′ piece of plastic sheeting (the kind that you use for a drop cloth when painting).

Step 3: I took a packet of iDye and a small 8oz squirt bottle……

…..and stuffed the small iDye packet into my squirt bottle. (This is the BEST invention ever by the way…..iDye is in a small water soluble plastic bag that dissolves in water. I LOVE this because I don’t dye my hands!) The dye color I used it a light Kelly green….it looks very dark in the bottle because I had it so concentrated.

Step 4: I filled the squirt bottle with hot water and shook it until the dye was completely dissolved….it will be VERY concentrated.

Step 5: I gathered up the wet cotton fabric by sliding it along the plastic sheeting….

…and using string I tied it tightly together.

Step 6: I tied the fabric together in several places so it eventually looked like this:

Step 7: I took the dye and covered the fabric starting at the strings. Once I coated one side, I then turned the fabric over and douse the other sides….covering the entire piece with a generous amount of dye.

Step 8: After covering all the strings, I used the rest of the dye to completely cover the sides of the fabric (this photo shows the fabric before being completely doused)……

…….and then I rolled it up in the plastic sheeting and left it overnight.

After 24 hours, I unrolled the fabric, rinsed in in the sink and then put it in the washing machine for a complete washing. Basically the strength of the dye slowly bleeds through the fabric overnight….the final untouched areas will be dyed as you wash out the fabric and as it goes through the washing machine! Voila….faux camo!

This tutorial is part of a series for the Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Challenge running this month. If you haven’t checked it out yet please do! All levels of design/sewing/printing encouraged to enter!