It’s unbelievable, I am posting after what seemed an eternity. This was not the plan all along somehow I managed to get embroiled with life in such a way that this site ended up taking the last seat on my priorities list. Anyhoo! I will stop agonizing over it as I am excited to share this one with you guys. As you may have noticed the tie-dye trend is back and is in full swing. And I have got two varieties to share but there is a twist to it. As you may have guessed by the title, the tie-dye effect was achieved with bleach. You make ask, why? Well, after two disappointing failed projects of mine involving dyes I thought it did be best if I used a technique easier than the traditional one (tie-dying is not difficult so to speak but it does have a limited scope with the kind of cloth you can use it on and yeah, I tried something new and it didn’t work) Without further adieu let’s jump right into what materials we need to DIY reverse tie-dye with bleach
Materials:
- Gel bleach
- Mom jeans and a cotton t-shirt
- Elastic
- Skewer/dowel
- Gloves
- Bucket
- Cutter
Steps:
1. We will begin with a beginner friendly method applied on the t-shirt. Bring the t-shirt together to form a tube-like shape. Next, tie a knot from the bottom and then a second one such that you have the entire t-shirt encapsulated. Go ahead and throw it in to a 1:1 of bleach and water solution for 1-2 hours to give you this random but cool pattern that you see my friend, Elif, rocking it.
2. Moving on to the pants, I would recommend that you check the strength of your selected bleach by testing it on a small spot on the interior of your pant to give you an idea of how much will be needed. I happened to use the same ratio for the bleach & water mix as the t-shirt and I was not satisfied with the result as it failed to get rid of the blue and in giving me the bare white that I was looking for. More on that later on, to move on we will need a total of 24 skewers. I cut the edges to avoid hurting myself while working on the tie-dying so that was an extra step for you to endure (you can use dowels instead and totally avoid my route).
4. How I have arranged the skewers is that I created bunches and made sure to keep some distance from the bottom upwards at the same increasing the space between the skewers as we ascend. Enclose the bunches by having it sandwiched by two skewers sitting opposite to each other and tie them up at the ends with elastic bands.
5. This is what you should end up having: a funny looking shrunken pants.
6. As explained earlier, playing with bleach was quite an experiential one for me. What I did to fix the setback was to carefully place my pants in a wide plastic bucket (making sure to not disturb the pattern) and slap concentrated gel bleach over the tips of the bunches and the flat space between them and then allow the bleach to do its magic for an approximate 2-3 hours. The effect comes to life and becomes more apparent with the drying of the bleach so stay patient meanwhile. Once you take notice of the color change, its time to remove the skewers and elastic bands and wash it along with your t as you would normally do your laundry.
One negative thing I’ve observed is that the smell of the bleach will not disappear easily. It will take a couple of rounds for it to completely fade away. So, that’s there other than that I cannot express how delighted I am with the obtained patterns. I’m really digging the gradient effect of the colors achieved and its uniqueness. If I would have bought these from a shop I would not have had this attachment that I am experiencing currently with it. Secretly, I admire it is a piece of art. I think that’s the feeling that makes me come back to DIYing things each time, simply for that gratification and joy of knowing that my brain was behind it in figuring out matters the crux of it.
Pair your t with a cropped fuzzy jacket to stay warm or go liberal and throw a short or kaftan on. To give these bleached pants their moment, I paired it with a white hoodie. Another favorite is to add a classic denim jacket over it or wear you can just wear it the way you like 🙂
Tell me what you think of the tie-dye trend, does it excite you and make you long for summer or you did rather give it a pass? If you like it don’t forget to share our DIY reverse tie-dye with bleach with your friends
