You start folding your clothes and realize you have yet another shirt with a nasty bleach stain. And, it was your good shirt, too! Well, you could toss it in the trash. Or, you could bleach tie dye it and have a brand new shirt!
All you need to bleach tie dye is all purpose laundry bleach, sturdy rubber bands, old shirts or other clothing, a plastic spray bottle and access to a washing machine or large tub or container.
Before beginning, make sure your clothes are clean and completely dry. Clothing that’s 100% cotton is best because bleach can cause other more delicate fabrics to dissolve. If you’re not sure about the fabric you’re using, try this on a small test patch before dying the whole shirt.
Please note that black and some navy blue fabrics tend to dye brown and then white. So if you don’t like the color brown don’t dye any black fabric or try a test patch to see how it will look. Also, the more you dilute the bleach the more muted the dying will be. Full strength bleach will make the fabric turn white faster, whereas diluted bleach might have more of a faded effect.
First, fill your washer with cold water and pause the wash cycle. If you don’t have access to a washing machine, fill your bathtub or large container with cold water. Remember to do your bleach dying in an area without carpeting or where bleach over-spray won’t be an issue. Your shirt once sprayed might drip bleach. You don’t want to have to walk from room to room to get to your washer or tub with a bleach soaked shirt. Use your laundry room, or bathroom so you can quickly put your shirt in the cold water bath. Or, if the weather permits, you can do your dying outside and have a large container filled with cold water and ready to soak your shirt in. (If you do choose to dye outside, you’ll might want to drain and refill the container and hand wash your shirts outside rather than transporting them to the washer. If washing outside try to use an environmentally safe laundry detergent.)
Next, tie your rubber bands on the shirt where you want the original color to remain. The rubber bands will hold the fabric tightly allowing less bleach to penetrate. If you want larger patches of color, tie multiple rubber bands side by side. If you want larger patches of white, tie your bands spaced far apart.
When you’ve tied all the rubber bands you want, carefully fill your spray bottle with some bleach. At this point you can add some water to the bottle to dilute the bleach if you wish.
You can set your spray bottle to the stream setting for more white areas. Or, if you want faded patches of white put it on the mist setting. Spray the area around the rubber bands, focusing on the areas to the left or right of where the bands are tied. Do this quickly for all the banded areas. Allow the bleach to sit on the fabric for 1 to 2 minutes. Then, place the shirt into the cold water bath, making sure it’s fully submerged. After you’ve put all your shirts into the cold water bath, with the rubber bands still on the fabric, wash the shirts in cold water on a gentle setting with laundry detergent. After the cycle has ended, remove the rubber bands and wash the shirts again. At this point you’ll notice the patterns of color and white the rubber bands have made.
Dry your shirts as usual and enjoy your new bleach tie dyed shirts.
