14 Tie Dye Patterns Everyone Can Create

Ever wonder how to make tie dye patterns? Or what’s the difference between bleach dye, reverse tie dye, and ice dyeing? There are so many wonderful, colorful patterns and techniques that one can use for tie dyeing today in the comfort of your own home. Let’s walk through some of the most popular patterns for tie dyeing and what makes them different and special. For each of the patterns, there’s a link to complete step-by-step how to instructions that any beginner or seasoned crafter can follow to create fun, colorful projects!

For the Complete Guide To Tie Dyeing with all of the helpful TIPS and TRICKS, check out How To Tie Dye: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide

Spiral tie dye

The spiral pattern, also known as swirl tie dye, is one of the most classic, traditional patterns in tie dyeing. It’s very flexible with the number of colors and types of items you can do this with this design. For more on spiral tie dye: How To Spiral Tie Dye

Double Spiral tie dye

The double spiral pattern uses multiple spirals, from the spiral tie dye design, and twists them together to create movement on the shirt or item. For more on double spiral tie dye: How To Double Spiral Tie Dye

Ice dye

Unlike traditional tie dye methods that use liquid dye to create a pattern, ice dyeing uses powder dye along with ice to create a unique pattern every time. The water from the melting ice mixes with the powder to produce a watercolor-like effect. For more on ice dyeing: How To Ice Dye

Reverse tie dye

The basic idea of reverse tie dye is simple. Take a dark color fabric item and create a tie dye pattern (spiral, crumple, etc). Add bleach to remove the existing dark color in the fabric. Once the original dye is removed, add new dye to those areas to create a new colorful pattern. There are several ways to create reverse tie dye. For details on each of the ways: How To Reverse Tie Dye

Bleach tie dye

Bleach tie dye is very similar to traditional tie dye in that you are creating a pattern by tying up your item. Once the item is tied, however, dye is swapped out for bleach, so you can remove the color, rather than add, to create the final pattern. The original fabric color, which can be anything dark (like black, red, or blue) will determine what color the pattern is. For more on bleach tie dye and to see several fabric color examples: How To Bleach Tie Dye

Rainbow tie dye

This rainbow pattern stands out against the white fabric background with bright bands of color, just like the rainbows in the sky. There is no limit to how many colors you can use, so the rainbow can be as complex or as simple as you like. For more on rainbow tie dye: How To Rainbow Tie Dye

Heart tie dye

The heart pattern creates a sweet, yet bold and colorful heart shape with heart shape rings radiating out from the center. You can use as many or as few colors as you like. It just depends on the number of rings you create with the rubber bands. For more on heart tie dye: How To Heart Tie Dye

Spider tie dye

The spider pattern uses a bit of the spiral technique along with black dye to create a pattern that looks a bit like a spider, hence the name. It looks complex, but is really quite easy for beginners! For more on spider tie dye: How To Spider Tie Dye

Crumple tie dye

The crumple pattern is super easy, great for beginners and very unique every time. Because it involves “crumpling” or gathering the fabric together randomly, this pattern is great for any type of item and as many or as few colors as you like. For more on crumple tie dye: How To Crumple Tie Dye

Bullseye tie dye

The rings of the bullseye pattern create a colorful target, just like in darts. The target can be centered on your project or anywhere you want the focal point. For more on bullseye tie dye: How To Bullseye Tie Dye

Sunburst tie dye

The sunburst pattern is a fun twist on the bullseye design. Take those bright rings of color and pop them throughout the shirt. You can add as many or as few sunbursts as you like. There are very few rules and so many color options. For more on sunburst tie dye: How To Sunburst Tie Dye

Chevron tie dye

The chevron pattern creates fun zig zag rows. It’s highly flexible as you make the rows as wide or narrow as you like (or even vary the widths) and can add as many or few colors as you want. For more on chevron tie dye: How To Chevron Tie Dye

Ombre tie dye

Ombre tie dye, also known as gradient tie dye, is a beautiful wash of colors that blend into each other or into white or black. This particular pattern isn’t technically tie dye by definition because there is no tying of the fabric to create a pattern, however, the dyes from a tie dye kit are typically used to create the colors. For more on ombre tie dye: How To Ombre Tie Dye

Pastel tie dye

Pastel tie dye is not really a pattern, but rather a softer take on the vibrant colors typically used in tie dye. There are several ways to achieve these softer colors and they can be applied to any tie dye pattern. For more on pastel tie dye: How To Pastel Tie Dye