Bleach Shirt Tutorial

I have been looking for a way to decorate shirts that does not involve heat transfer vinyl.

Supplies:

Cotton t-shirt

Bleach in a bottle that has a very fine mist

Stencil (vinyl or freezer paper)  click here for a link to a tutorial for making freezer paper stencils

paper towels

freezer paper

 

Safety considerations:

1. Wear an apron or something to protect your clothes from bleach splatter while working on this project.

2. Eye protection is not a bad idea, especially if kiddos are helping you.

3. Wear Rubber/latex gloves to protect sensitive skin from bleach.

 

Step 1:  affix stencil to t-shirt (mine is a sticker I made from vinyl on my electronic cutter)

Step 2: Place freezer paper on the inside of the garment to prevent the bleach from penetrating to the other side of the garment.



Step 3:  Lightly spray bleach (mask off any area you don't want color to be removed)

Within seconds you will begin to see the loss of color.

Step 4: Blot the shirt with paper towels to remove excess bleach.... then wait

I am impatient and removed the stencil before all of the color was removed.  You should leave the stencil on until you are sure that you have the desired effect.

After about 5 minutes all of the color is gone.  If not, then repeat steps 3&4

Step 5:  Allow to dry in a well ventilated area then wash seperately to avoid bleaching something unintentional.

 

This is an example of the results when masking off an area.  I just used torn paper towels to make a circle around my stencil to prevent the bleach from spraying all over the garment.

Thanks for looking.

 

Next I will be trying out fabric spray paint to add color to white t-Shirts with Stencils...I'm totally addicted to crafts.