Homemade “I am Kenough” Hoodie Tutorial (Barbie Movie)
Using tie dye, heat transfer paper, and our printable, you can make your own custom pink, yellow, and blue “I am Kenough” hoodie!!
Barbie and Ken are iconic characters known for their unique fashion and bright colors. You could say that all of their costumes from the 2023 blockbuster movie were pretttty eye catching, however, the “I am Kenough” hoodie is probably my favorite. (Their neon skating outfits are a close second!)
With Halloween coming up, I’ve been trying to think of simple and relatively inexpensive couples costumes my husband and I could rock this year. You can imagine my excitement when I pitched the idea to do a “Barbie and Ken” look to my husband and he agreed haha. I quickly got to work creating my DIY Cowgirl Barbie costume and gathered the materials for this DIY Ken’s unique “I am Kenough” hoodie.
After making both of these DIY crafts, I am happy to report that they are easy enough for anyone to make, whether for Halloween or just for normal wear! If you’re uneasy, don’t worry. In this article I provide step-by step instructions with pictures along with tips and links for materials that way you can EASILY recreate this look!
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Making Ken’s Iconic Hoodie
This DIY tutorial essentially has 2 parts: the hoodie tie dyeing part and the design adding part. You will need to complete the tie dye portion of the process before moving on to the design addition. But before we get into all of that, you’ll want to make sure that you have all the necessary supplies.
“I am Kenough” Hoodie Materials
Here a list of items to gather up:
- Plain white hoodie
- tie dye kit (pink, blue, and yellow) + water
- rubber bands
- gloves
- a plastic bag
- “I am Kenough” Hoodie Printable Design
- Clothing iron
- Scissors
- Heat transfer paper
**IMPORTANT: The following processes are simple, but also not super forgiving. Once you start using the dye or ironing on the design, it’s hard to undo. Because of that, it is best to read over all the instructions for tie dying, heat transfer, and tips before actually beginning
Tie Dying the Hoodie
Here is a tutorial for dyeing the “I am Kenough” hoodie!
Step 1: Wash Hoodie – If you are starting with a brand new article of clothing, I recommend putting it through the wash. This will just ensure that it doesn’t shrink at all after you add the design.
Step 2: Use Rubber Bands to Tie Hoodie – The key to getting a good tie dye pattern is to scrunch up your fabric and secure it together with rubber bands. There are all kinds of designs you could make, but I went with a random scrunching pattern.
Step 3: Prepare the Dye – When your hoodie is prepped, you can move on to getting the dye ready. Suggestion, put your gloves on before mixing together the dye along with clothes you’re ok potentially staining. Do this by adding the specified amount of water to the bottles with the color powder and shake! Once that is complete, take your tie dye materials to an appropriate location for dying. I opted for the backyard, since I didn’t want to stain my kitchen.
Step 4: Coat Hoodie in Dye – Add the 3 colors of dye (pink, blue, and yellow) to various parts of the hoodie. The more sporadic you are in placing the dye, the more the colors are likely to blend. So, if you want to keep it mostly pink, blue, and yellow, try to use the same color of dye for somewhat large areas of the scrunched hoodie. Also don’t be afraid if you leave some white spots. I opted for the strategy of starting with the lightest color (yellow) and then moving darker with pink and then blue. Store in a large Ziploc bag.
Step 5: Let Dye Sit for 24 Hours – The longer dye is able to sit, the more concentrated and vibrant the color will be. However, dye stops developing after 24-48 hours. So, allowing the dye to sit for a full day helps the colors fully seep in and color the fabric.
Step 6: Rinse the Extra Dye Out – After the dye has sat for 24 hours, remove the hoodie from the bag and take off all the rubber bands. This will reveal your tie dye hoodie design! Now, go over to a large sink or even a bathtub/shower, and start rinsing the additional dye out. This process can take a while, so don’t be surprised if you’re working on it for 20-30 minutes. You want to rinse and squeeze the dye out until the water runs clear.
Step 7: Wash and Dry the Dyed Hoodie – Just to be sure that there isn’t additional dye that could ruin your other clothes, throw the wet hoodie into a load in the washer (by itself!). Don’t add any detergent or bleach. Simply run it through the wash once to remove extra dye. The, put it through the dryer.
And just like that you have a dyed hoodie that is ready for the next step of the process!
Adding Your Design
The process of adding a custom design to a shirt is actually really simple! Anyone could do it!
1. Create A Design: Simply start by digitally creating a design (or using the one I’ve made for you below)! You could use any type of design software, but I used Canva. If you plan to add the design to a dark fabric (the dyed fabric counts as dark), make it so that the design reads left to right. If transferring to a light fabric, mirror the image. When you like the design, save it in high quality resolution as an image or pdf.
2. Print the Design: The shirt design needs to be printed on transfer paper, which can be found at any local craft store or online. Just double check to ensure that you purchase one that suits the lightness or darkness of your fabric. When you’re ready to print, place a sheet of transfer paper in the printer, so that the image will print on the correct side. Then, print the image. Wait about 30 minutes after printing the image before transferring it.
3. Prepare to transfer the image: Designs are transferred to the fabric through heat from a clothing iron. Prep the iron by removing any water, plugging it in, and allowing it to heat up. Consider the fabric you will be ironing on when selecting which heat level to use on the iron. In most cases, the cotton setting works great. While the iron heats up, cut out your image from the transfer paper. I chose to leave a white border (about 1/4 inch) around the letters on mine, but you can remove that if you prefer. Then, place a wooden cutting board ( do not use your counter or an ironing board) underneath your clothing item, iron the surface you’ll add your design to, and carefully remove the backing of the heat transfer paper.
4. Iron on the Design: Place a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover your design over the cut-out transfer paper design. Arrange it so that the design is layed flat on the clothing item with the parchment on top. When you’re ready, use the hot iron to iron over the parchment paper. If the design is about 1/2 the side of a transfer sheet, go over it for 30-45 seconds. If it’s a full size sheet, iron it for 60-90 seconds. Remove the parchment paper, allow it to cool, and them enjoy your new shirt!
Printable “I am Kenough” Hoodie Design
Here is a link for the “I am Kenough” hoodie design I made. It is completely free to use and has this “I am Kenough” hoodie design for both a light or dark fabric heat transfer!!
“I am Kenough” Hoodie
Equipment
- 1 iron with the water removed
Materials
- 1 white hoodie plain
- 1 tie dye kit pink, yellow, and blue
- 1 set plastic gloves
- rubber bands
- 1-2 sheets heat transfer paper
Instructions
Tie Dying the Hoodie
- Wash your hoodie.
- Use rubber bands to scrunch and tie the hoodie for dyeing.
- Prepare the dye by adding water and the color powder to a bottle and shaking it. You want to have pink, blue, and yellow.
- Coat your hoodie in the dye. When the hoodie is coated in dye, store it in a large Ziploc bag.
- Let the dye sit for 24 hours.
- Rinse the extra dye out. Continue rinsing until the water runs clear.
- Wash and dry the dyed hoodie.
Adding the "I am Kenough" Design
- *This tutorial is for heat transfer on dark fabrics.
- Print off a design to add to your shirt. If you are adding it to a dark fabric don’t mirror it.
- Make sure your iron has no water in it and turn off steam setting. Steam can ruin the image, so you want to prevent that.
- Preheat your iron to a high / cotton setting.
- Use a heat absorbing surface such as a wooden table. (Not ironing boards or counters)
- Put a towel on your ironing surface and then place your clothing item on top of it, iron out any wrinkles.
- Peel off the back of the transfer paper.
- Place the transfer paper on your T-shirt (so that your design is facing up).
- Cover the transfer paper with the tissue included with your product.
- Begin ironing your transfer paper onto your T-shirt using heavy pressure. The amount of time you should be ironing varies by the size of the label that’s being ironed: Full sheet: 2 minutes, 1/2 sheet: 1 minutes, 1/4 sheet: 40 seconds
- Allow the transfer to cool for 2 – 3 minutes with the tissue still on.
- Carefully peel off the tissue, if the transfer lifts, try reapplying the iron-on steps.
Notes
- Light vs. Dark Transfer PaperÂ
- Be sure to buy the correct type of transfer paper, since there are specific ones to be used on light vs dark fabrics.Â
- Wear Clothes You’re Ok Ruining During the Dying Portion
- Tie dying can get pretty messy. Because of this, you’ll want to wear old clothes that could get stained along with plastic gloves.
- Leave the Dye In For 24-28 Hours
- Allowing the dye to sit will give you the most vibrant, long lasting color. 24 hours is the right amount of time for this!Â
Amazon Essentials for Creating A “Ken” Costume
Amazon has some GREAT finds that make it easy to complete this DIY “I am Kenough” hoodie and even recreate Ken’s full outfit from the movie. Here are some links that can help!
More Halloween Costume Inspo
And if you’re looking for reasonable DIY Halloween costumes, check out our collections below! We even have a DIY Barbie costume that you could pair with this hoodie for a “Barbie and Ken Halloween Costumes” vibe!
- DIY Halloween Costumes
- Family Halloween Costumes
- Group and Couples Costumes
- DIY Bride of Frankenstein Wig
- Easy Trunk or Treat Monster Tutorial
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