Bleach Plus Stencils Equal Cool T-Shirts

3:14 PM

I made some gifts this year for Christmas.  I made my nephew a Butthead shirt, and my niece a princess play outfit  If you didn't already know Beavis and Butthead are back on MTV now that Mike Judd is no longer working on King of the Hill.  And my nephew is just discovering it,  so I thought it would be cool to make an AC/ DC shirt Butthead style (Butthead is his favorite).  I thought about getting him red shorts but he wouldn't be able to wear it until summer and it could look to much like a costume. He loved it!  This could obviously work for any design you can think of.
  • Bleach Pen (find it by the bathroom cleaning products at any store)
  • Fabric that's 50 percent cotton and 50 percent polyester (according to the artist Phylex who developed bleaching techniques with a clothing manufacture this is ideal, because only natural fabrics work with the bleach but it is also more likely to eat through the fabric.  I used a blend and it worked well.
  • Plastic Gloves, face mask, and an Apron bleach is toxic and you will breath it in and get it on your clothes and skin if your not careful.  Wear short sleeves, light colored clothes etc.  
  • Cardboard an Exact-o knife, and a pencil
  1. I started by free hand drawing on cardboard the AC/DC log
  2. then using an exacto knife (with protection underneath) I cut out the logo making sure to keep the center of the A and D to use later.
  3. I then used my toilet seat cover as a tool to make sure none of the bleach leaks into the back side.  So the toilet seat is between the front  I know that might sound gross but hey it works great, and your close to the tub or sink to rinse off immediately (obviously wash it before wearing it).  You could instead use cardboard to protect the back of your shirt instead, and pin your stencil into place with pins, like Martha Stewart did in the video below.
  4. Position your stencil where you want it to be.
  5. put your face mask on, shake your pen and carefully apply it to your stencil and let sit until it reaches your desired color (5-30 min).
  6. While some people recommend using bleach neutralizing chemicals I found it unnecessary.  Simply rinsing it in the tub worked just fine for me.  
Below is a video of Martha Stewart and Cynthia Nixon making bleach stenciled t-shirts (the demo starts about 3 min in). 


Pin It

You Might Also Like

0 comments

Popular Posts

How to Tailor Clothes Series

Start Our Free Sewing Class