I have been wanting to print clothing blanks for a while. Luckily, Dharma Trading carries many styles and options and they have all the kinks ironed out. Their blanks have been tested for acceptance of dye, even the threads used to sew the garments have been considered and addressed. That’s where I found this Cotton/Spandex Unitard. If you head over there, check out the tie dyed, unitard wearing yogi in the images.
I won’t be tie-dyeing this though. In printing this, I assume I will come across some challenges. Submerging cloth in dye is much different than applying thickened dye to cloth. Much of my experience in printing is based on printing cotton broadcloth, which is woven and smooth. Knit jersey is also smooth, but the cloth is thicker and stretchy.
Luckily, I bought three unitards, so I have some wiggle room to mess up and try again.
My first step was to cut a form out of cardboard. I made this slightly larger than the unitard, so that I could stretch the cloth some. I imagine this may help the printing to appear darker, as the cloth will be spread out in order to print it, then will retract when taken off the form. My hope is that I am not stretching the cloth too much.
I imagine the shirring and binding on the bodice will be hard to print well and I accept ahead of time, that this may be wonky. We will soon see. Wish me luck.
Melanie Testa 
So cool! What if you put a bowl or ball under the shirred area to flatten it? I can’t wait to see how they turn out. If it doesn’t work, you can always overdye. Summer dyeing is postponed. It has been over 100 for 6+ weeks. I am hoping that we don’t go from this to freezing temps. I have figured out how to dye in the studio if I have to. Have fun!!!
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