As with many fashion fads, tie dye is back! Not the multi-colored tie dye your hippy dad likes to rock or the kind you might see at a Phish concert. We’re talking about indigo-dyed garments (traditionally called Shibori in Japan). This DIY is super easy, fun and the pattern possibilities are endless. Best of all, you can’t mess up. No matter what you do, your newly dyed item will have a look of its own. All you need is this Indigo Tie Dye Kit ($12) and a few white clothing items!
– <br/>
– pre-reduced indigo
– reducing agent (thiox + soda ash)
– gloves
– rubber bands
– 2 wood blocks
– 2 popsicle sticks
Instructions:
1. Fill a five gallon tub with four gallons of warm water. Pour the indigo dye into the water while stirring. Add the thiox and soda ash and continue stirring. Let the liquid settle and then stir in the opposite direction. Allow the mixture sit for one hour.
2. Prepare your items by folding and adding rubber bands (see techniques below).
3. Submerge your items in cool water and wring them out.
4. Remove the top layer of film from the vat of dye. Save the film — you will put it back in the vat after you finish dying if you want to save your dye to use again in the next few days.
5. One at a time, add your items to the dye, gently squeezing them while they are submerged allowing the dye to penetrate the fabric. At this point the color will be bright green.
6. Squeeze out any excess dye and set your garment aside for 20 minutes to oxidize.
7. Rinse your garment, remove the rubber bands and rinse again. Put your finished items in a washing machine with gentle detergent.
Find yourself a five gallon tub and fill it with four gallons of warm water. Slowly pour the Jacquard’s indigo dye into the water. Start stirring and gradually add the thiox followed by the soda ash. Give it a good whirl in one direction and then stir it in the opposite direction. When it’s thoroughly mixed, let it sit with the lid on for an hour.
While you’re waiting you can prepare your items. We dyed a tank top, a skirt, a napkin, a scarf and a tote bag. Each one was a different fabric and took the dye differently, yet they all turned out really well! There are tons of techniques to create patterns, but really it’s impossible to mess up. No matter what you do, your shirt or napkin or pillowcase will look amazing! Here are four techniques we used to dye our pieces.
How hot is that skirt? Here’s how we did it.
Accordion Fold
For this design make a diagonal accordion fold and then place rubber bands along the length of the folded skirt about two inches apart. Now, onto scarf prep!
We love how the bright white comes through in the scarf.
We used the same technique for the scarf except that we folded the scarf in half first to make it a little bit easier to handle. Since the fabric was silky, the folds weren’t perfect, but that’s okay! It created a really beautiful pattern. Who needs symmetry anyways. Now, onto the next technique.
Kapow!
Single Circle
Next up we folded a tote bag. To make a single splotch, cover a fist-worth of fabric with cling wrap and tightly wind a rubber band around the knob of fabric.
You probably recognize this design, as it is super popular with tie dye fashion.
Concentric Circles
Moving on to the tank top. We made concentric circles for this one. You can also use this technique to create multiple circles all over your garment. Grab a bit of fabric at a point and pull it up. Wrap it with a rubber band about an inch from the tip. Keep adding rubber bands moving down the fabric as you go. The further apart you place your rubber bands, the wider your circles will be.
That’s right — we got a little geometry up in here!
Triangles
Finally, we dyed a napkin with a triangular pattern. Fold your napkin in half lengthwise and then do that a second time. Now fold the corner on the diagonal creating a triangle. Fold that triangle over itself moving up the napkin until you reach the end. Cut two triangles out of cardboard. These should be the same size as the folded napkin. Place one on each side and add rubber bands to keep the cardboard and folds in place.
Now it’s time to dye!
Once your items are ready, saturate them in clean water. Wring them out and then they are ready to dye!
Open the lid on your dye and you will see a top layer of film. Remove the film setting it into a separate receptacle. You’ll actually want to save this if you plan on dying over multiple days.
Take your first item and submerge it in the dye. Gently knead it like a cat so that it soaks up the dye. Don’t let it sink to the bottom of the vat because there is sediment down there. You’ll notice that your item looks fluorescent green. That’s not indigo?! No, it’s not, but that’s okay. When the item is left out in the air, it will oxidize and turn blue. So cool!
Let your items sit for 20 minutes and then if you want to make them darker, you can dip them in the dye again.
Once you achieve the color you want, rinse your piece in cold water. Take the rubber bands off (it’s easiest to cut them, but don’t cut the fabric!) and keep rinsing. Then put your items in the washing machine with mild detergent. Otherwise you’ll get blue on your skin and look like Tobias from Arrested Development when he was trying out for the Blue Man Group.
When you are done, you can put the top layer of film that you saved back into the vat of dye. Stir it and then cover it with the lid. The dye will keep for a few days. When you are ready to dispose of the dye, we recommend pouring it in your toilet. This is the most environmentally safe way to get rid of dye.
Now, time to wear the rest of these indigo items! Thanks to our gorgeous designer Krystle for modeling :)
Even though the skirt and tank were different fabrics, they both took the dye beautifully.
Such a fun bag!
Love the combo of color blocks and indigo!
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures