Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Bleach Designs DIY



This is such an easy DIY tutorial, that it hardly deserves it's own blog post.
But it gets one, none the less.


A few years ago, when dressing as Tonks for a Harry Potter birthday party, a group of friends and I created shirts that said The Weird Sisters using this method of dying and bleaching.


Using a colored shirt (not white), create a design on one side using making tape.
Slide a piece of cardboard into the shirt.




Then, spray the design liberally with bleach.

The shirt may bleach more or less depending on it's make (for example, the shirts for the boys didn't get "bleached" like I wanted at all! They just got a bit less bright. Black shirts are extra fun, because they tend to turn a surprising color.)



Let the shirt sit 2-10 minutes.

When you can see that it's starting to fade how you like it (but keeping in mind that it will continue to whiten  for a bit), rinse the shirt off (we just sprayed ours down with the hose) and wring it out.


(In the above pictures you can see that I peeled my tape off and threw the shirt in the wash when it was only slightly faded, but it bleached WAY more!)

Peel the tape off of your shirt, and let the shirt continue to sit if you want it to bleach more, or wash it (with soap), if you are ready for it to {kind of} set.

Dry and wear!



Some tips and thoughts:

This time, we only used masking tape and a squirt bottle full of bleach to keep it simple for kids, but there are lots of other ways to get crafty with this.

*Using a sponge brush and gel bleach, you can dab on or "paint" your designs.

*Cut out a design on Freezer paper (or even print one on Freezer paper, and cut it out using an exact knife - that's what we did with the Weird Sisters shirts) and iron it on to your shirt.
(Did you know that you can iron Freezer Paper to fabric? Waxyside down, iron on low. The paper will stick to fabric but can easily be peeled off later.)

* Use a bleach pen for more intricate designs.

* You can bleach both sides of the shirt, but must do it one side at a time. We're talking: Bleach, wash, dry and THEN repeat.



It's perfect for jazzing-up shirts for Independence day later this week, and a fun craft for kids without having to buy a tie-dying kit. Just be careful using bleach! (I feel like that goes without saying, yet that I also am somehow responsible for saying it: Bleach can be dangerous, etc. Okay, people. Done.)

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4 comments:

Jessica Smith said...

wish i would have see this before i bought a specific 4th of july shirt for my boy. next year!

Katie B said...

I love this. I'm doing it today

Aimee @ Like Mother Like Daughter said...

These are darling, and I am most definitely going to convince my husband we need to make ourselves matching shirts!

Unknown said...

This turned out awesome!!!!