One of my most recent projects was dip dyeing one of my shirts with bleach. It was a simple, one afternoon project, and it's a great way to transform a boring, solid colored shirt into something unique and beautiful. Another great thing about this project is you probably have everything you need already in your home.
Materials
- solid colored shirt
- bleach
- water
- vinegar
- plastic bag
- rubber bands
The first thing you need to do is decide how far up the shirt you want the bleach to go. Put a plastic bag around the part of the shirt you want to stay the original color. I then added a rubber band a couple inches down from the bag, and another one a couple inches down from the first one.
Now you are ready to bleach your shirt. I used a 1 part bleach to 4 parts water solution. You just need to put the end of the shirt in the solution, and the bleach will travel up, creating the dip dye effect. I left my shirt in for about 30 minutes, but I recommend checking on it often, and taking it out when you like the way it looks. When you are satisfied with the color, take off the plastic bag and rubber bands and rinse the shirt with water. Then let it soak in a 1 part vinegar to 1 part water solution for 10 minutes. This stops the bleach from continuing to bleach the shirt. After the 10 minutes rinse the shirt again, then let it air dry. After it is dry, wash it alone in a washer and dryer. Then it's ready to wear!
As you can see from the pictures, the two shirts turned out very differently even though I did the exact same thing with each. The purple shirt stayed the original color above the first rubber band, turned a medium purple below the second rubber band, and in between the rubber bands it turned a light purple. The navy blue shirt turned red on the bottom, stayed navy on the top, and looks tie dyed in between. I had no idea that navy blue turned red with bleach! Not knowing how your shirt will turn out adds to the fun of this project. So far it's been a nice surprise every time :)
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