We tie-dyed t-shirts outside yesterday after our trip to the race track. It's one of those summertime crafts that my kids love because it's both messy and colorful. And they particularly enjoy making matching t-shirts to wear with their cousins and friends.

My cousin had picked up the dye and t-shirts but I turned out to be the slacker and had forgotten to buy elastics. We improvised by using clothespins and were all pleasantly surprised how well they worked out.

We used a full package of powdered Rit dye and mixed it with very hot water in buckets outside.

My experience with Rit dye in the past is that the color washes out if you use the amount of water it calls for on the box. And asking the kids to hold the fabric in the dye for more than 20 seconds while standing over the bucket with their shirts is too much for them.

I used about a gallon of water with the full packet of dye.

Once the kids chose the area of the t-shirt to dip in the dye they counted to 20 before they removed it.

The downside to using clothespins (which they put on before they dipped it in the dye) was that it was a bit tricky to squeeze out the excess dye so I helped the kids do that part.

L. was being silly when I asked her if I could take a picture while she was making her t-shirt.

After the kids were done with the dye, they washed their shirts (with the clothespins still fastened) in a bucket of cold salt water (one gallon of water w/ 1 cup of table salt).

We ended up with a colorful mix of shirts for the cousins to wear together.

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