This Indian technique of tie and dye is called “Bandhini”, which means “to tie” in Sanskrit. It involves tying the fabric with a thread tightly then dying it, leaving the tied portion without colour. I am sharing here some photos of the process as I did this art!

Step 1: You Would Need

A cotton dyeable cloth, some string, and many small round beads. I used dry yellow peas because they were the perfect size I needed, you could use anything else, round stones work as well!

Step 2: Tie the Beads

Before I started I doubled the fabric so that the effect would come on both the ends. Now take the bead which you have, wrap it around the doubled cloth and tie the string around it as securely as possible. Show a bit of muscle here, because later when you dye the cloth you don’t want the dye to reach the cloth. This will create your Bandhini effect. You don’t have to knot the string after every bead, just take the same yarn to the next bead and keep continuing.

Step 3: Continue Tying, Create a Pattern

Now that you know the technique of tying, wrap the beads all along the cloth in what ever formation you like. You can create a new design every time. This is how I tied my beads. After 5-6 hours of hard work I was done! All that pulling had given me boils on my fingers. But I was very exited to see it being dyed now

Step 4: Finish the Design

Here are some more pictures of the beads tied to the cloth. See how pretty they look tied together! Also how it looks from behind.

Step 5: Die the Fabric

I had envisioned a progressively receding pattern, hence I decided to give the fabric ombre dying effect. I did not completely dye the fabric but only its ends.