Our tie dye series is from issue nineteen of Oh Comely. You can buy the issue here or subscribe here.

The tie-dye bonanza continues. This week, we're showing you how to make a swirly, colourful pocket that'll give any old tshirt a new lease of life. 

You Will Need: 

A small square of cotton fabric
2 sachets of dye in colours of your choice
Rubber gloves
Two bottles with squeezy nibs
2 elastic bands
1 freezer bag
A tshirt of your choice

The Swirly Pocket Tee

One. Prepare a small square of fabric. Ours is about 20cm x 20cm. It can be plain, or if you're a dab hand at embroidery, go wild! Emma Ruth Hughes did ours. 

Two. Soak your patch in a salt solution according to your dye packet instructions, then wring out. Prepare the dyes in the bottles to the instructions on the packet. We used 1/4 sachet of Dylon's Bahama Blue, and 1/4 sachet of Dylon's Sunflower Yellow. 

Three. Pinching the centre of your patch, twist the fabric around into a tight whorl. This will be a bit fiddly; the key thing is to keep it tight. As with all tie dye, it doesn't have to be super neat!

Four. Secure your swirl with elastic bands, crossing length and widthways to cut the patch into quaters. 

Five. Carefully squeeze your first dye into two opposite quaters, making sure you get right into the creases. Grab the other dye, and do the same with the other quaters. Place in a freezer bag, and leave for 24 hours in a warm place. 

Six. After 24 hours, unfold and rinse thoroughly until the water runs clear, and leave to dry. Your patch is now ready to sew onto your chosen t-shirt!

Read more from this series: The Stripy Scarf.

Photos: Liz Seabrook.