Fabric Painting with Bleach

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Matt and I are taking it super eassyyyy, we are still in bed. Matt is making a Christmas video, I'm doing some reading and the occasional run to the kitchen for tea and some muffins I made yesterday. mhmmmmm :) Maybe we will go for a bike ride later, or not.

Anyway, painting with bleach. My sister gave me this idea in the summer. One day I came home and her and a friend were sitting in the garden with freshly painted bleached legging/tshirts/hoodies strung up around them. I was also really inspired by these beauties.

What we could paint was limited to what I had in my wardrobe that was dark coloured and I didn't mind potentially ruining. The first top I found and tried was an absolute fail. I applied the bleach but nothing changed. I then figured I need something with at least 50% cotton, not totally polyester. This worked far better.

You need:

At least 50% cotton item of clothing

Old paintbrushes

Thick bleach

Rubber gloves

Start by using chalk to draw on your design, paint over the chalk with bleach and wait until its bleached to a level you like. Then thoroughly rinse the clothing under cold water (this stops the bleaching process). Then hang out to dry/tumble dry. You could equally rinse under cold water then put it in the washing machine for a short cycle on its own to be extra sure there is no bleach residue.

I made this 'Grateful' shirt and Asel made the dandelion skirt. It was interesting to see what effect the bleach had on the dye in both items. The skirt went a very pink colour and the top went red then orange. If we had left the bleach for longer it would have continued bleaching and gone white.

I do like this top, its not the kind of thing I would usually wear but I imagine it going down well with a kind of summer bohemian outfit.

Bleaching is quite experimental, give it a go and let me know how it works out :):)