Sunday 22 April 2012

How to: Ombre bleach/dip dye shirt and jeans!

I've been craving a DIY project for a while, so what better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon than messing around with bleach and charity shop clothes!
I got this pink shirt a while back at my local charity shop and decided to use it as the tester for my DIY bleaching project.
Keep scrolling to see what I did and how I did it!

We went from this, plain shirt....



...to this ombre dip dyed number!



I love it! Here's how I did it!

Set up your work space. I decided to work outside as we are playing with bleach and I didn't fancy bleaching my carpet by accident. I also used rubber gloves to keep my hands from getting irritated.

You need a bucket, filled half full with hot water. You also need some regular bleach. I used Tesco Value Thin Bleach. Mix a good few glugs of bleach into the water.


I prepped my shirt by tying a plastic bag around the top of the material that I wanted to protect from the bleach.
Then place the bottom of the shirt into the bleach. Keep the top of the shirt lay over the edge of the bucket so no bleach reaches the protected parts covered by the plastic.
Keep an eye on the colour, I left mine for about ten minutes in total, but keep checking to see how well the colour is bleaching out.


Once happy with the colour, pour away the bleachy water safely. Then fill your bucket with clean water and rinse out your garment. Repeat this process a couple of times and Bob's your Uncle!
If you prefer, bung it in the washing machine to make sure any traces of bleach are gone.


This is the end result!




I also tried on some old jeans that I never wear. 
I used the same technique but found that I needed a lot more bleach, and still the colour did not come away as well as I'd hoped.



I gave up half way and just whacked them in the washing machine. The end result is very subtle and very hard to capture on camera, however I really like how they turned out.



You can kind of see the colour difference between the bottom of the jean and the bum part. Very subtle but I like it. May try re-bleaching to make them lighter when I have the time!



Hope this was helpful and inspiring to some of you! Next, tie dye I think!
How exciting!
x

16 comments:

  1. I love the shirt, its so fun that you've vamped it up and made it look so on trend without really spending all that much to get the look!

    Lea x

    http://shebeginstosee.blogspot.com

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    1. Cost me nothing, although I used all my mums bleach haha! Tesco Value for the win! x

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  2. I love how it's come out on your shirt that is really good! I might have to eye up something in my drawers to give this a try myself!

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    Replies
    1. Yes! You should! I have the bug, I want to bleach everything now haha! x

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  3. I love this. You are so creative. I really fancy giving this a go with some of my clothes!x

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  4. Wow , I have seen so many posts about bleaching but no one has actually done a tutorial! So thank you so much!
    I love the way the shirt turned about and the subtle jeans bleaching also looks great! Xx

    Project-rattlebag.blogspot.co.uk

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  5. wow the shirt looks amazing you did good girl x

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  6. Oooo these look great! I definitely want to give this a try. Great tutorial, very simple to follow!
    xx
    emsipop.blogspot.com

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  7. it's kind of hard to see but:

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_MmhuaC_xDZI/TTxDXwwiWVI/AAAAAAAAAAs/HHVeM18Zk3Q/s1600/green+fade.png

    do you think your method would work for something like that? i'm buying a green hoodie and i want to lighten it to this sort of seafoam green, then create a gradient where the top of the hood is lightest. i'm wondering if just using bleach would be the best or if i should grab some rit dye and try to change the shade first!

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  8. i loved the look of the shirt :) maybe im gonna try it, thankyou for the idea hun:)

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  9. Wow! The shirt looks amazing, I must try this.

    http://littlegingee.blogspot.co.uk/

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  10. wow, you are great, I also like the bleach t shirt.

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  11. Wow! How Nice! got a good talent there!


    Visit me http://jandkretailer.webs.com/

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  12. Superb posts with lots of information!!! This is really the most miraculous blog site dude….

    funny tshirts

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  13. I am going to make this but do you think you could post more accurate measurements for the bleach and water? thanks

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