Easy Shibori (Japanese Tie-Dye) Pillowcases

Make beautiful indigo and white fabrics with this Japanese tie dye technique.

Shibori is a Japanese technique of tie dying fabric to create sometimes beautifully intricate blue and white designs. It’s pretty popular right now, and in fact my box of Up and Up Tissues is showing off a Shibori-inspired design as I type this. I’ve also seen a number of home goods like napkins and table runners lately that have a Shibori look and I think they’re so elegant.

Shibori style tissue box — Shibori style is everywhere these days – like this box of tissues from Target

I happen to have one room in my house that already has an indigo and white color scheme: My bedroom. Though I have no hopes of creating an artwork my first time, I thought that making some Shibori pillowcases would be a good trial and introduction to see how it goes.

As you know from my past posts, I love a good craft kit, especially when trying something new, so I decided to go the easy route and buy the Rit Indigo Shibori Tie Dye Kit just so I’d have everything I needed to get started.

About this project:

Skill level: Beginner

Time to complete: An hour or two

Cost: Minimal. The cost of the Rit Shibori Kit is about $13, plus you need salt and whatever fabric you plan on dyeing.

So, let’s get started. You’ll need the Rit Shibori Kit and some white cotton or linen fabric that you’d like to dye. I’m using pillowcases that I already have, but you could use cloth napkins, table runners, or even make a tapestry out of a large piece of cotton or linen.

1. Grab your Rit Shibori Tie-Dye Kit

I bought this kit at JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts, but you can most likely find it at your local craft store, or get it from Amazon or another online retailer. As mentioned, the kit is very inexpensive.

The kit includes:

A jar of indigo dye
A jar of color fixative
2 plastic squares you can use for the Itajime technique
Different sized rubber bands and some twine
Gloves (you’ll need these unless you want to have smurf hands)
Instruction manual and quick tutorials on how to do 9 different designs
You’ll also need white cotton or linen fabric and 1 cup of salt, which makes the dye more intense.

Rit Shibori Kit with 1 indigo dye, 1 color fixatives, rubberbands, and 2 plastic squares — This kit from Rit includes everything needed to try a basic Shibori pattern.

2. Prep Your Fabric

Before you get your dye bath ready, you’ll need to prep your fabric, which involves wetting it with water, ringing it out, and laying it flat on your work surface. Then you use rubber bands or plastic squares to create a “resist,” which is where the dye cannot get to. The resisted parts will be white, while the exposed parts will be dyed blue. The type of resists you use will dictate the pattern on your finished piece.

Shibori Itajime square technique — For this style, I accordion folded the pillow case one way and then the other way to create a square. Then I sandwiched it in between the two plastic squares and secured it with rubber bands.

The kit includes instructions on creating a variety of different patterns, from traditional Shibori techniques to ones that you may have used on tie-dye T-shirts. I decided to dye four of my white pillowcases and I used different techniques on each so I could see which one I liked the best. I tried the Itajime square technique, the swirl technique, Kanoko and the twist technique.

Shibori Twist - Twisted pillow case — This is the “Twist” technique. You just twist it around and then secure with a rubber band.

3. Prepare Your Dye Bath

The reason that you should prep your fabric first is because your dye bath has to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and if you do your dye bath first, the water cools down too fast. I did this in my stainless steel sink, but you could also use a big plastic 5 gallon pail.

Put the plug in the sink and run the hottest water you can out of your tap. Measure the temperature using a cooking thermometer and if it’s not up to 140 (it probably won’t be), boil some water in a kettle or a pan until it boils and then add it to the sink until you reach 140-ish. I used 3 gallons of water and 1/2 of the jar of Indigo dye, as indicated in the instruction manual.

Once your water is at temperature, pour in 1 cup of salt (optional, but it supposedly helps set the dye and gives it a better color) and add the right amount of dye for the amount of water you have. Stir it around until it’s blended evenly into the water.

Indigo dye being poured into a sink of water — For 3gallons of 140 degree water, add 1 cup of salt and 1/2 of the jar of the Indigo dye.

4. Add Your Fabric to the Dye Bath

Now, just add your prepped fabric to the dye bath and swirl it around to get even coverage, and every now and then flip the fabric over. USE GLOVES or your hands will turn blue.

The instructions said to leave in for 3-5 minutes for a high contrast design and 10-20 minutes for more blue coverage. The first two I did for 5 minutes and there is a LOT of white space. The second two I left in for almost 20 minutes and I think they came out a lot nicer. But if you’re looking for something more subtle, I’d recommend 5 minutes.

2 fabric bundles in indigo dye bath — This is when I first dropped the bundles in the dye bath. They got darker the longer I left them in. You can see in the bottom bundle how the plastic is resisting the dye. You can see it in the top bundle, but once I unwrapped it, the way the fabric was twisted helped to resist the dye.

While you’re waiting, use the other side of your sink, or another large bucket to mix your fixative. This helps set the dye so it doesn’t bleed or fade later. Fill the sink with water and then add half the bottle of the fixative that comes with the kit.

5. Transfer Your Fabric to the Dye Fixative

After 5 – 20 minutes, using gloves, move the dyed fabric bundles to the fixative that you’ve prepared. DON’T UNDO YOUR BUNDLES YET. Just plop them into the fixative mixture and stir them around for 20 minutes.

Double sink with dye — Here I have a batch dying in the front sink, and a batch in the fixative solution behind it. The fixative will get a bit blue, and that’s ok.

6. Rinse, Dry, and Admire Your Shibori Creation!

After 20 minutes in the fixative, remove the bundles and rinse them under cool water. Now, it’s time for the reveal! As I mentioned, the first batch I only left in for about 5 minutes and I was a little disappointed in the results. The second batch I left in for 20 minutes and those were much more vibrant.

Shibori dyed pillowcases on bed — Here they are!

The one in front was done with the Kanoko technique. This one, you pinch the middle of the fabric and lift it up. Then you wrap rubber bands all the way down the “pole” you created. I thought this turned out pretty cool. On the right side is the one I did with the Swirl technique. That one, you pinch it in the middle and swirl it into a spiral. It has a kind of cool marble look to it. But on the back side, it’s very subtle. The one on the bottom left was the Itajime square technique that I described above. I was disappointed in this one and I wish I had left it in the dye bath longer.

Shibori Resources and Examples

So, what I’ve just showed you is a quick and easy decorating idea, but a poor example of the true art of Shibori. I encourage you to learn more about this fascinating art and additional techniques you can try.

UK-Based Townhill Studios has some gorgeous examples on their site as well as description of more Shibori techniques.

Go! Go! Nihon! is a travel site for students who are studying in Japan, but they have a really fun blog about Japanese culture, and they even do hosted trips to Japan where you can learn Shibori! Read their blog here.

The Rit website also has more about Shibori, their kit, and additional ways to use the kit.