Philadelphia mom shares fun tie-dying tips for kids

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- If you're looking for something easy, fun and fashionable that you can do with the whole family, especially while you're at home, a Graduate Hospital mom is teaching us to tie-dye.

Jackie Pepper Green's company, Dye It Pepper, was born from a mom hack! Stains on her kids' clothes! Sound familiar?

Green turned to an old favorite to save them: tie-dye.

And she created a career out of it!

Green shares her secrets so we can try it ourselves, at home.

"This is a passion of mine," Green says. "It's happy."

And it was born from a happy accident, a stain on her daughter's brand new shirt.

And not just any stain, a super Philly stain: water ice!

Determined to salvage the shirt, Green hearkened back to her summer camp days and bought a tie-dye kit.

Friends and family loved it.

"People started giving me their stained clothes, and I was bringing them back to life in a cool and fashionable way," Green says.

She started tie-dying everything from bedding to bags, to super chic adult wear.

Strangers were literally stopping her on the street.

"They were asking me, 'Where did you get that? Who made that?' And I am so excited when I can say that I made it!"

Now, out of a factory in Philadelphia's Port Richmond section, she runs "Dye It Pepper," a nod to her maiden name.

"I wanted to bring it back into my company because it's a cutesy name," she says.

Green says it's easy and fun to do with the family. You start with a damp item and make ripples with the fabric to create a pattern.

"If you tie those pleats and creases really tightly, then in there that's all your white space," she explains.

Slide rubber bands around to hold it all in place and add color to both sides.

"The kids would love to do this," she says, "it's really fun."

And the best part is, it's impossible to make mistakes!

You let it sit for about eight hours and then rinse well in cold water.

Take off the rubber bands, wash alone in a hot cycle, dry it and wear it!

Green does live tutorials on her Dye It Pepper Instagram account.

She's also selling DIY kits too, with a portion of the proceeds going to the local charity No Kid Hungry.