Lately I’ve been seeing so many neat tye-dyed designs on shirts and dresses that have really caught my attention. One thing I’ve noticed about the styles that caught my eye was that the shirts weren’t dyed with color, they were dyed with bleach! I always forget how simple this project is and how great it turns out!

When I went thriftting, I specifically looked for dark clothing that would contrast well with the bleach. Lighter colors and brighter colors work as well, but I chose black clothing because it goes with just about everything. Here’s some simple steps to get started. The designs are the same as you would make when you tye-dye but instead it’ll just take the pigment out of the clothing where ever you put the bleach. (WARNING: wear clothes that you don’t care about while doing this, bleach is very permanent and can splash up and ruin the clothes you have on!)

First, I filled up a bottle that comes in the the-dying kits with 1/3 water and 2/3 bleach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I laid out the shirts on the grass because this is quite a messy project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then start squirting the mixture of water and bleach onto the shirts in a design of your choice. With the control of the bottle, there’s endless possibilities for design your top. My first on I squirted the bleach all around the bottom and then let it fade up towards the top. This shirt took the bleach fast and turned in a orangey-red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second shirt I did was more of a random spiral tye-dye. I pinched the middle and spun the shirt around my fingers so that it wound up into a spiral. Then I tied it together with a rubber band so that the spiral would hold. Then I sporadically squirted the mixture bottle all over the visible surfaces of the shirt. This shirt totally reacted differently to the bleach and turned more white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The designs and the redness or whiteness of the bleach always varies and it’s fun to be surprised as to what the out come will be. Just go into it with an open mind and find out what you can create!

 

Ali Futrell lives in San Francisco and attends the San Francisco Art Institute. She loves DIY projects and anything involving fashion or art. Being a starving student, she has come to realize thrifting is a great way to save money yet still look fashionable, and Thrift Town makes that possible! #alisblog