a funky way to tie dye

One of my favourite friend's son turns 10 today...I'm not generally very good with boy gifts, seeing as I don't have any boys of my own. So I asked her what I could make that he would like. He has asked for a tent ~ one for his bedroom, a quite space to read and think (and probably hide from his little sister). She was going to create something to hang from a hoop from the ceiling and a good nook requires cushions for comfort ~ here is where I can come in!

I had a few ideas but I wanted something that the big girl could help me with, in the end I decided to give 'Sharpie tie dying' a go ~  we followed this tutorial at Steve Spangler Science; the big girl had a ball.

I bought a couple of white Indian cotton napkins, washed and dried them, then got to work. Now I will just say that our results we not as dramatic as the tutorial and we think it is because of the material we chose. Indian cotton is quite thick and possibly not as porous as a thin t-shirt, after we finished the napkins we grabbed one of the wee girl's singlets and the results were very different (pictures above).

While I sewed the napkins into a cushion cover Mia gave the insert a comfort check ~

I think it looks great...the big girl thinks maybe it is too girly...what do you reckon?

* In Ausralia rubbing alcohol is sold under the brand name Isocol and you can get it in chemists.