I’ve been playing around with my indigo vat again. It’s good, cheap fun. I wanted to make a wedding gift with some dyed flour sack towels, and I though it would be neat to make a heart design. I did a quick search and lo and behold, a heart design is a rather simple thing to do!

On my instagram post, someone commented, “Is there anything you can’t do?” And my response was, “is there anything I won’t try?” I just like trying new craft, art, textile stuff. Why not? I think we get so caught up on social media thinking we have to be experts to show something we’ve done. I don’t plan to become an indigo dye vat or tie dye expert, but I love showing off how easy and how much fun it is. My neighbor was so intrigued, she brought up some old tea towels that her mom left behind, and tie dyed for the first time. You know what? Tie dyeing with indigo by yourself is fun; with a friend, lots more fun.

Steps to creating a tie dye heart design:
1. Fold fabric in half, like you would if you were cutting hearts from paper.
2. Draw a half heart on the folded edge. I dipped a plastic handle into my indigo and made a line that I could see. You can also use a pen that dissolves, but I never really trust those.
3. Starting at the point of the heart, create small pleats and follow your line around.
4. Secure at the line with a band or string.

Here’s a short video showing how to do that.

Now that you have your heart shape secured, use your desired dye method! I dipped my tea towels in my indigo vat. I have a stash of them now for wedding gifts.

Have fun!

Anne Dovel
@prairiewomanarts