Blue and white tie dye pattern

How to make tie-dye patterns

Tie-dying works by bunching up white coloured fabrics and ‘tying’ them. By adding dyes to these fabrics, you can create psychedelic designs. The iconic tie-dye look is created by making folds and creases in the fabric. By restricting where your dye can leave pigment on your fabric, the dye will only spread in very specific areas, creating beautiful, symmetrical patterns. 

Before we get into the designs, let’s take a look at the step-by-step process of tie-dying. Every tie-dye project is different, but the process is fundamentally the same. Read through how to make tie-dye patterns before you check out some of the awesome designs listed further down this page.

Preparation:

Before you do anything with your t-shirt or fabric, you’ll need to soak your chosen material in soda ash. Make a solution of warm water and soda ash, using a cup of soda ash per gallon of water. Leave it to soak for about an hour and allow it to dry until it is barely damp.

Step 1 – Bundle & Fold Your Fabric

The way you need to bundle your fabric depends on what design you are looking to create. For specific ideas on folding/bundling ideas, take a look at the methods further down on this page.

Step 2 – Tie Your Fabric

With your fabric folded all properly, take your elastic bands and stretch them around your fabric. The aim here is to maintain the shape of your bundle and prevent it from moving. Around 4 or 5 bands will do the trick.

Step 3 – Die Your Fabric

Now for the fun part! Take your dye or dyes and squirt it over specific areas depending on which pattern you’re looking to recreate.

Step 4 – Rest Your Fabric

Now you need to rest your tie-dye creation for at least 24 hours. If you remove your fabric before 24 hours, then your pigment will not be fully processed and you can potentially ruin your design. While you might want to see your artistic handiwork, the longer you wait the better! Place the dyed fabric into a container, preferably with a lid, in a warm spot that is room temperature (roughly 70 degree fahrenheit or 21 degrees celsius). Allow it to rest.

Step 5 – Rinse Your Fabric

Once your fabric has processed for at least 24 hours, you then need to rinse off any excess pigment from your fabric. 

In a tub, shower or bath, take the fabric with the area that has the most white pointing upwards, so you avoid any pigment runoff going onto the white. Wash the white area with cold water and rinse it well. Squeeze any excess dye from the pigmented area of your fabric with a glove. Slowly increase the warmth of the water as you rinse. After around 5 minutes of rinsing, take off the rubber bands and unbundle your fabric. Rinse the whole fabric thoroughly now, still increasing the heat of the water. At this point you can twist and squeeze your fabric to get as much soda ash out as possible.

Step 6 – Wash Your Fabric

Create a tub of hot, bubbly water with dish soap/washing up liquid. Leave your fabric to sit in the water for about 45 minutes before coming back and replacing the contents of the tub with a new batch of bubbly water. Then, repeat for another soak for another 30-45 minutes. This process gives your tie-dye creations bolder differences between the white and dyed areas.

Step 7 – Dry Your Fabric

With your fabric thoroughly washed, it’s time to dry it out so it’s ready for use. You can either choose to let it air dry or use a dryer on a low-heat setting.

Here’s a tip to remember the basic process: bundle, tie, dye, dry!

And now for the patterns…

• Last Updated: August 25, 2022
• Dyeing, Tie Dye

Compilation of the different tie dye patterns on AB Crafty. Over 17 tie dye designs and ideas.

Table of Contents

Note: Some links in this post may contain affiliate links, which means at no cost to you, I may earn a commission.

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Don’t forget to pin it so you can easily come back to it later!

Free Downloadable Templates

Some of the patterns below use templates to easily draw the perfect shape! You can download them all for free, scale them to the size you want, and print them out. You can also download them from the shop.

Download the Free Templatesfor the Tie Dye Patterns

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Tie Dye Patterns

You can click on each image or name to jump to the details for how to make the design. If there’s a dedicated post for the pattern, I’ve provided links to that post.

For all of the designs, make sure the item is wet before shaping and tying it. Then if you’re using a tie dye kit, soak it in soda ash for at least 20 minutes before adding the dye to make sure it’s the most vibrant. You can find soda ash on Amazon.

Then don’t forget to use gloves (these are the kind I use since I have small hands) and then rubber bands or zip ties.

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Classic Tie Dye Patterns

This is a collection of the classic and more traditional tie dye designs. When I started out making tie dye as a kid, these were my go-to designs. And even now, the spiral pattern is still one of my favorite!

For all of these designs, if you’re using traditional dye, I recommend using a tie dye kit with soda ash and soaking them in soda ash after tying them. A kit like this already comes with soda ash, but you can also get it separately on Amazon.

Spiral Tie Dye Pattern

This is still one of my favorite tie dye designs and is pretty much my go-to. You can do it in a rainbow pattern using 3 colors like I did in my tie dye sweatshirt tutorial or you can make it in any color you want.

To make it, pinch the middle of the shirt and twist. The key is to keep the twist tight and help the folds to make a more perfect spiral. Then tie it with evenly spaced rubber bands (this is the pack I have).

For a rainbow, dye the opposite sections in yellow. Then dye the next sections red and then the next ones blue. Squeeze the colors near the rubber bands to help them blend.

Rainbow Bullseye Tie Dye Pattern

Pinch the middle of the shirt and lift up, gathering the rest of the shirt. Then tie it with rubber bands, spacing them evenly (this is the set I have).

Dye each section a different color in rainbow order. I used red, yellow, then blue. Be sure to squeeze the colors at the rubber bands to help them blend.

Corner Bullseye Tie Dye Pattern

This one is similar to the rainbow bullseye. However, instead of pinching the shirt in the middle, pinch it in the corner.

You can use a single color or multiple shades of the same color, like in this all blue tie dye shirt.

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Multi-Target Tie Dye Design

Taking the target tie dye design a step further, you can do multiple to make a multi-target pattern.

Pinch different sections of the shirt to tie off. Then you can dye it or use the bleach dye method like I did for this one.

Crumple or Scrunch Tie Design

This is known as crumple tie dye or scrunch tie dye. It’s simple enough and also one of my favorite because you never really know how it’s going to turn out. I love the randomness!

Simply scrunch up the clothing and wrap it randomly with rubber bands or zip ties. Then place dye wherever you’d like.

For this one, I did a similar pattern to the spiral method and did the same color on opposite sides.

And here’s what a crumple dye looks like on a crop top using just a few colors.

Alternating Stripes Tie Dye Pattern

Accordion fold the shirt. Then add rubber bands every 1-2 inches, evenly spaced apart.

Alternate the colors of dye to get different colored stripes.

Rainbow Stripes Tie Dye Pattern

Just like with the alternating stripes, accordion fold your item and wrap rubber bands (Amazon) around it in even sections. When dyeing it though, use red, yellow, and blue, alternating the colors.

Squeeze the dye along the edges of the rubber bands to help blend the colors.

And even though I used a sock for this design, you can do it on any size item.

Two-Toned Stripes Tie Dye Pattern

You can also get a cool effect by changing the direction you fold and by only using two colors.

For these dyed socks, I folded them from heel to toe. Then dye one side all one color and the other side another color.

Diagonal Stripes Tie Dye Pattern

Instead of folding the shirt in a straight line, start folding it at an angle.

Wrap it with rubber bands or zip ties roughly 1-2 inches apart (these are the zip ties I used). Then dye it in whichever colors you would like or use just one like I did for this monochrome black shirt.

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Unique Shapes in Tie Dye

These designs are a little more complicated or require a few extra steps. I like to consider these as more intermediate or advanced designs. You can use the free downloadable templates to make it easy to draw the designs.

Download the Free Templatesfor the Tie Dye Patterns

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Just as with the classic designs, I recommend using a tie dye kit with soda ash and soaking them in soda ash after tying them. A kit like this already comes with soda ash, but you can also get it separately on Amazon.

Then for those that require a design drawn on, I recommend using washable markers (this is the set I have). Some of these also need more strength when tied up so I recommend using reusable zip ties vs rubber bands. These are the ones I have.

Circle Bursts Tie Dye Design

Fold the shirt in an accordion fold.

Next, pinch and lift the top corner and add a rubber band or zip tie. Then move a few inches down across the top and repeat. Continue across the top. Repeat this along the bottom edge, but place the rubber bands between the rubber bands on the top.

Use the guide below as an example.

Heart Tie Dye Pattern

For a beautiful tie dye heart, fold the shirt in half and draw on the heart with a washable marker (I like these). To make this easy, I’ve also made a free downloadable heart pattern you can print and use. Then fold along the outline, twisting the shirt in order to keep the marker lined up.

Use a zip tie to secure the shirt along the line. Then pull the rest of the shirt to the side and wrap zip ties 1-2 inches apart.

For a rainbow pattern, alternate using rainbow colors (in this case I used a red, yellow, blue, and purple), but you can use whichever colors you’d like.

Star Tie Dye Pattern

For a fun tie dye star, fold the shirt in half and use a washable marker to draw half of a star (these are the kind I have). To make this part easy, I’ve made a free downloadable star pattern that you can print out and trace around.

Then with one finger in the middle along the fold, fold the shirt over so that the top point lines up with the middle of the next point. Then fold the shirt backwards along this line. Repeat the process lining up the points of the star until it’s all folded and all of the marker lines line up with each other.

Fold along the marker line and secure it with a zip tie. Then pull the rest of the shirt to the side and wrap zip ties 1-2 inches apart.

Dye each section whichever colors you would like. The first section will be the main center star.

Bat Tie Dye Pattern

Pumpkin Tie Dye Design

Just like with the other Halloween designs, start the pumpkin pattern by folding the shirt in half and using the printable template to draw half of the pumpkin. This is the set of washable markers I have.

Sew along the design and pull the threads carefully to make the folds. Then scrunch the rest of the shirt and secure it all with zip ties. Dye the pumpkin section orange, the stem green, and the rest black.

Ghost Tie Dye Pattern

For a ghost design, use the printable template to draw half of a ghost on a folded shirt with a washable marker (Amazon). Either sew along the design or fold along the line, keeping the line straight. Tie a rubber band around the eye. Secure the rest of the shirt with zip ties roughly 2 inches apart.

Dye the eye black, but leave the next section white for the ghost. Then for the alternating stripes look, dye each section an alternating color.

Candy Corn Tie Dye Pattern

For another fall or Halloween themed design, make this candy corn pattern by starting with a folded shirt. Draw a triangle shape with two sections using a washable marker (Amazon) or use the printable template.

Then fold along the outer line and secure it with a rubber band. Wrap the rest of of the shirt with zip ties evenly spaced across.

To dye it, leave the top part of the triangle white, then dye the next section yellow and then the next orange. Use the lines for reference. Lastly, dye the rest of the shirt all black.

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Tie Dye Patterns Using Non-Traditional Methods

These patterns don’t necessarily use the classic tie and dye method. They have something unique going on to get the different pattern.

Ice Tie Dye Design

The ice tie dye method uses a unique approach to dyeing. While you still tie it using the crumple design, you apply the dye differently.

Place the shirt on top of containers or a drying rack inside of a tray. Then cover it with ice.

Then instead of mixing the dye, you’re actually going to sprinkle the dry powder over the ice. As it melts over several hours or overnight, it blends to create a gorgeous marble effect. Because you’re using the powder directly, I actually recommend this kit instead of the bottles.

More Dyeing Projects and Resources

• Tie Dye Shoes
• Tie Dye Crocs
• Tie Dye Crop Top
• Dye Silk with Candy
• Best Tie Dye Kits
• Tie Dye Shirts
• Pastel Tie Dye
• Tie Dye Bucket Hat
• Tie Dye Sweatshirt
• Tie Dye Socks

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1 thought on “Tie Dye Patterns”

1. Great compilation. Almost a complete “How to” of tie dying.

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