How to Dye an Hombre Shirt

This tutorial will explain how to dye a shirt in the "hombre" style, on which dye appears to fade from light to dark (or vice versa). You will need a shirt or other article of clothing to dye, a clean spray bottle, dye (acrylic craft paint thinned with water works very well), a clothes hanger, a paint brush, and a dish pan.

Start by readying your dye for use. If you are using packaged dye, follow the instructions on the packet. If you are using acrylic paint, squeeze about 1 ounce into the tub and add 1/3 cup water, stirring until the paint is completely combined. Add another 2/3 cup of water and stir well. You may want to test this on a damp swath of fabric similar to the shirt you want to dye. If it becomes too light on the test swath, add more paint to the mix.

Dampen the shirt slightly. Choose whether the top or bottom of your garment will be the dark side. Dip that side of the garment into the prepared dye, until about 1/3 of the garment has dye on it. Put the shirt onto the clothes hanger dyed side up, and suspend the hanger above the dish tub.

Because the shirt is damp, the dye will spread a little into the middle third of the fabric. Fill the spray bottle with water. If it is adjustable, set it to mist, not stream. Start about halfway down the dyed portion and begin spraying water onto the shirt, from side to side. The dye should really begin to spread into the middle portion now.

Continue spraying until the middle portion is covered with a medium shade of dye, and the bottom portion has a very light shade of dye at the top and no dye (or very little) on the bottom half.

If the darker portion of the shirt has faded too much during spraying, use the paint brush to add more dye to the uppermost section, until the correct color has been achieved. Alternate with the brush and spray bottle until the desired fading effect has been created. Run the garment through the dryer to set the dye.