DIY dip-dyed denim shirt..

So I have attempted my first bleach dip dye. I had an old denim shirt that I never really wore and wanted to spruce it up a little bit. The images make it look far more green than it actually is and my aim was actually to make it white, but for a first attempt I'm really pleased.

I started off by just buying some really cheap Tesco Value bleach which was around 28p for two litres. I then marked on the top where I wanted the dip dye to start and to give me an indication of colour change. Then in a bucket I mixed a water and bleach solution. With the shirt on a hanger i submerged it into the bucket with a mixing stick and gloves and waited and then I waited some more and then waited a little bit more.

After about 5 hours of being in the bleach with no colour change I realised that the bleach mix was far too weak, I know its a long time to wait but I went out to bingo with my friends and just left it. I watered it down a lot to start with after reading lots of horror stories about clothes disintegrating etc however I think you would have to use the worlds strongest bleach for this to happen. Luckily my lovely mum had two stronger more expensive bottles of bleach which we threw into the bucket as well with just a tiny amount of water just to make it slightly more diluted. Eventually after waking in the night to take it out of the bleach, it worked!

Please excuse the no make-up look!

Although not perfect and not completely as expected, I really love my new shirt and am hoping to try a few more bleaching techniques like a bit of tie dye. If anyone has any other ideas or there own bleached clothes I would love to see some links.