Bleach Boredom Tutorial in Quarantine
by Jill Dudzinski
HI guys!! :) So I, just like everyone else have experienced more time on my hands lately. So, Jill and I wanted to do some fun activities and tutorials so you guys have something to do during the pandemic. The first one we have done is bleaching clothes, all my fellow TikTokers, I know you know what I’m talking about. In our IGTV there is a video explaining literally everything, but we wanted to make an additional blog post just to clear up any questions you may have!
First, you have to gather all of your supplies:
- Rubber bands/hair ties,
- Bleach
- Any clothing piece you wish to bleach
- Rubber gloves (optional).
These are literally the only supplies needed for this!
The sweatshirt I used in the video is from Walmart and it was literally $8, they also have different colors and matching sweatpants too! If you don’t feel like buying a sweatshirt/don’t want to go through the hassle at Walmart, you could use any clothing piece in your closet that you feel as if you’ve overworn, has lost its character, or it’s just something you can’t make yourself get rid of even though you don’t wear it.
Then after you have all of your supplies, you can start the whole process. (Tip: make sure you’re wearing clothes that could get ruined by bleach without breaking your heart) You start off with preparing the clothing piece, I did the basic scrunch and swirl tie-dye technique for my sweatshirt because that has been the most popular on my social media. But, if you want to make it more exclusive, you can google “tie-dye patterns”. So many cool ideas will pop up and there are also usually directions along with the patterns to assist you in the technique.
After you decided on your pattern, you then add rubber bands to the clothing. I promise the way you put your rubber bands over the piece and the number of bands you use, do not matter, it’s just to make sure it stays tight while being bleached.
The next step is to get the item wet, you can do this outside with the hose, in your bathtub, sink, anywhere you can trust yourself using bleach.
Once your clothing piece has gotten wet you now can apply the bleach! You add bleach to both the “top” and “bottom” of the clothing. (Tip: I used my hands and smashed the bleach into the clothing. Did this make it work better? I’m not actually sure) In the video, I used “toilet bowl cleaner bleach” because, in my opinion, it saves you money and hassle. You don’t have to get an extra container and then put the bleach in there and then hope it will work to go on to your shirt. The toilet bowl cleaner is already in a bottle? If you may? Anyway, it works great for keeping your hands free from touching any bleach. I also think that it’s easier to place the bleach in the desired spots that you want when it’s more of a gel-like concoction. But, regardless of the bleach you decide to use, it will get the job done.
After about 15-30 minutes come back and check up on your project! You should be able to see the bleach in action at this point. You want the bleach to sit on the fabric long enough for all the spots to be uniform in color. But, don’t let the bleach sit too long because it has more potential of destroying the fibers of the clothing. - That being said not every piece of clothing is made out of the same material, obviously, so time may vary, after 15 minutes you may be able to move on to the next step! I let the bleach sit on my sweatshirt for about 22 minutes.
Nowwww take off the rubber bands and look at your almost complete masterpiece!! (or don’t and surprise yourself) After the rubber bands are removed, you can throw your artwork into the washer, change the setting to cold water, and fling in your detergent. (Please do NOT wash with any other clothing pieces this bad boy deserves his own load) After washing it you can dry it any way you desire.
And then VIOLA you just tie-dye bleached!!! My favorite part about this activity is that no matter how hard you try no item will be like the other, it’s an enjoyably unique way to update your closet. Oh, and become TikTok trendy. Tag us in the items you make!! Can’t wait to see them!!
Stay safe! -Elli