How to Create Your Own Faux Shibori Tote and Pouch
We’re loving the shibori trend popping up this season, and decided to put together this easy hand-painted spin on the Japanese tie dye technique! Skip the buckets and the mess and grab a DIY Shibori Tote and Pouch Kit ($24.95) from the Brit + Co HSN Shop in one of five colors!
Materials (get the kit!):
– canvas tote bag
– canvas zip pouch
– paintable fabric dye
– paintbrush
Instructions:
1. Paint three large, evenly spaced stripes on your canvas tote with clean water.
2. Paint over the same three stripes with the concentrated color dye.
3. Now paint thinner, perpendicular stripes using the concentrated dye.
4. Water down your brush with clean water, and spread the dye outwards from your three stripes.
5. Let your tote dry for about 15 minutes, and then go back over your stripes with saturated dye.
6. Repeat the same technique on your zip pouch, and let both pieces dry overnight.
7. Set the dye by ironing on the reverse side for 3 minutes.
8. Hand wash cold when necessary.
Let’s get painterly!
To ensure that the dye doesn’t bleed through to the other side, insert a piece of cardboard into your tote bag before painting.
Pour some of the paintable dye into a glass or other container, and grab a second glass of water. First, paint three horizontal stripes on your canvas tote using clean water. We evenly spaced these stripes at the bottom edge, middle, and top edge. Now for the fun part! Follow along those same three stripes with the concentrated dye and watch the color spread.
To create that faux shibori effect, add thin vertical stripes of varying lengths with just the concentrated dye.
Then water down your brush with clean water and spread the dye outwards from your three horizontal stripes.
While your tote begins to dry, repeat the same technique on your canvas zip pouch.
Now go back to your semi-dried tote bag and add more concentrated dye to your horizontal and vertical stripes to make them stand out. You can repeat this on your semi-dried zip pouch as well, and then let both pieces dry overnight.
Take a look at that sweet matching set! To heat-set the dye, simply iron on the reverse side for three minutes and hand wash cold when necessary.
Keep your pens, pencils or small valuables in the zip pouch, and fit a laptop, textbooks or sketchbooks into the tote bag.
Rock the shibori trend on your way to work, class, or on a casual weekend around the city!
Brit + Co HSN Shop
DIY Shibori Kit of your own! Go for a traditional blue dye or mix it up with another of our five vibrant color options – Blue, Purple, Turquoise, Magenta, or Orange.