ukelele team indigo tshirts commission

2020/01/27
category: Dyeing
tag: Indigo dye, commission

We made Tshirts for this local ukelele group back in summer 2019!

We sometimes make design and dye patterned t-shirts for different groups or businesses. If you want to commission a t-shirt, tenugui or other item please get in touch. It usually costs between 3000-6000 yen per t-shirt as we are using natural fermented indigo. We have a choice of standard or organic cotton t-shirts and depending on the complexity of the design, the price varies. We can also make kids and babies clothes. Great for parties or presents!

They are a ukelele group from Minami Awaji City, on Awaji Island, Hyogo, Japan. Look how happy they are! When I have enough time I want to join them. This shot is from a performance they did in Fukura, at the southern point of Awaji Island.

Doesn’t indigo and shibori have a great summery weather vibe? I wear it all year round of course, but if you want to evoke some Hawaiian-ish pacific island feel; indigo and white indigo is a great choice. People always say suzushisou when we sell it at markets over the summer. suzushisou means ‘it looks cool and refreshing’ . Japanese words for feeling hot, warm, cool and cold are relative depending on how you want to feel. For example you want to feel ‘suzushii‘ (cool) in the summer, when its too hot, but you wouldnt use it in the winter when you’d rather be nice and warm, even if the temperature is the same.

The first step of making these tshirts was to dip them in natural indigo at least 6 times. With each dip the colour gets progressively darker. This is how we can achieve a gradient, or ombre effect. you can also make stripes this way. You have to watch out because the colour when wet is a few shades darker than when it dries out. some of the colour washes away and some is just the difference between wet and dry fabric.

Once the tshirts are dyed, washed and dried we use a stencil to spread a kind of bleach paste onto the tshirt, a bit like a screen print. We have to leave the bleach to soak in for 24 hours and then it can be rinsed out with water.