Bleach Paint DIY

I have been wanting to make some bleach painted shirts for the kids' for a few weeks so I picked up a few dark shirts the last time I was thrifting to test out some ideas. I tried bleaching polka-dots on a pair of jeggings, chevron on a green shirt, and this swiss cross on a dark grey shirt. The polka-dots on the jeggings stayed pink, the bleach on the green shirt wasn't left alone long enough and hardly made a mark, but this one ended up a happy accident. 

I taped off my design for sharp corners after putting cardboard inside the shirt to keep the bleach from going through. I was going to use a paintbrush but then thought it might look too gradient so I switched my plan to spraying bleach straight on the shirt. To do this I needed to cover the rest of the shirt. I suggest using freezer paper to do this kind of thing instead of my version. I cut out the negative a little larger and then taped it to the first layer of tape so that it didn't get in the way of my design but covered the rest. 

Then I sprayed bleach onto the fabric and used a paintbrush to spread it out. The brush technique didn't do much so I kept spraying. Then when it was pink enough, I decided to pull the tape off and rinse it. That's when I realized I'd sprayed so much it had bled under the tape. There is still enough of a sharp line from before the bleed that it looks like an image of the sun (in a swiss cross version) to me. I kind of love it. Sebastian does, too. His cheerful face is merely a result of having to go to school this morning. 

Here are two more great bleach paint posts from friends. There are so many fun projects out there so just be sure to read up on the trials and errors from THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE YOU (hehe) and maybe experiment with something you thrifted or are planning to donate anyway so you don't ruin something precious.

I wanted to try a bleached elbow patch effect on an old cardigan but ran out of time. Consider this someone else's mission to execute. I want to see photos when you're done.

Have you ever intentionally bleached clothing? How'd it turn out?

-Rachel

Comments

[iralee]

ive done a couple. i did one inspired from an urban outfitters shirt for my 7 year old son. i took a black tshirt, a big circle from wax paper and ironed it on the bottom right corner, letting some of the circle hang past the hem, and a little wrapped around the back. i used bleach in a spray bottle and concentrated at the edge of the circle, then sprayed a little further out. it looks really cool and he loves it AND wears it! lol the one i did for my daughtr wasnt as great. i used a light baby blue shirt so the bleach would be subtle. hers was also inspired from urban outfitters mens dept. its a large cross outline on the front, and some text that runs vertical up the back (cant remember what it said). i also cut the neck and sleve edges for a 80's off the shoulder look. its not as cool as the circle one, but im only out $3!

[Kristen]

If I accidently get bleach on a top I just splatter more on so it looks like it's on purpose. Then I can still wear the top instead of throwing it out.

[Niki in Baltimore]

I'm glad you did this post. I just tried to do a bleach pattern a few weeks ago and it didn't work at all; i mean there was no color change from the bleach anywhere on my dark teal shirt. I realized later that it was 50-50 fabric; does bleaching only work on 100% cotton?

[Colleen]

This gives me an idea to make my little sister one with a peace sign. Guess a circle would be kind of hard though...

[Lindsay]

I've been doing this a lot lately! I've used Jill's method (cup of bleach & synthetic brush) and have been really happy with it :) I'll usually sketch my design beforehand, copy it to the shirt with chalk, then go over with the bleach, leaving the imperfections. It's neat to see how different fabrics turn out. Here's my most recent, for my son: http://instagram.com/p/PX8tyUoeKw/ It's been a hit!

[Rachel Denbow]

Lindsay,

I love it! It's pretty detailed for a bleach project. I need to try that next.

[Lindsay T.]

Clorox Bleach Pens ! They work terrific for drawing/writing, and i've never had any problems with bleeding.

[Bronica]

No but I keep unintentionally bleaching my towels! I think its the zit cream hahaha

[tinajo]

When I was a teen it was high fashion to bleach our jeans so that I´ve done (to my parents horror). I´m just waiting for that fashion to return, wouldn´t surprise me at all..! :-D

[Amy H.]

XOXO I love how it turned out. Its a fun technique, I have learned less is more with it, for the skeletons, I barely had bleach on my sponge. Wonder if that cleanup bleach is different then straight put bleach I used?

[beetree]

Fun stuff! When I was in high school(early 90's!)), I used a Q-Tip dipped in bleach to draw a huge peace sign on a black shirt. It came out really cool! I wore that shirt with a layered, ruffled jean skirt when a certain cute college boy I liked came to visit. In true little sister fashion,my little sis giggled and spied on us the whole time. She drew a picture of us sitting on the couch- me in my peace sign and ruffles, the boy in his leather jacket and boots. My husband and I still have that picture of us! ;) Wishing Sebastian lots of great memories in his cute shirt!

[Karen]

I love how bleach doesn't just produce a lighter version of the original color! I didn't know that bleaching gray would give you such a fabulous pink! I made a shirt for my son where I made a freezer paper stencil to bleach a giraffe shape onto a black shirt. I then embroidered multicolored spots on the giraffe. I did a post about it here: http://folkhaven.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/a-boy-and-his-giraffe/

[Louise Amabilis]

My husband did some awesome Vans bleaching a while back, he had an old pair of plain black on black sole Vans and poured lots and lots of bleach on them, they came out looking an amazing shade of orange with black pieces in between, the soles stayed nice and black.