Bleach + Stencil = Shirts DIY!

It’s nearly summer – and that means short sleeves! And I’ve got a DIY for that!

This past weekend, I designed t-shirts for my niece and nephew – inspired by a technique I learned from the StencilGirl herself, Mary Beth Shaw. I saw her demonstrate this process both in person and in her DVD – adding gel bleach to stencils on scrap fabric and batik. This got my wheels spinning, and I envisioned doing this on shirts!

For my project, I had 100% cotton t-shirts in bright colors, a Clorox Gel Bleach Pen, my trusty blue painter’s tape, a jumbo dauber, Around the World Latitude and Around the World Longitude stencils, and two cardboard envelopes I received StencilGirl stencils in!

First, I washed both shirts as directed, and then dried them without a dryer sheet. This removes the sizing from the shirts. 
I spread the t-shirts out on a table and put one StencilGirl envelope inside each shirt to keep the bleach from bleeding through to the back of the shirt (you can use cardboard cut to size, too).

I placed a stencil on each t-shirt and taped around each stencil with blue tape to keep the stencils in place and to keep my bleach from extending past the outside of the stencil, too.

Then I shook my Clorox Gel Bleach Pen, squirted some out onto the paper plate and began. I placed the dauber in the gel bleach, then daubed off the excess onto the paper plate, and pounced straight up and down through the stencil.

I have to say I really like the thicker consistency of the gel bleach – the consistency is more like paint
(which is what I’m accustomed to stenciling with). I also like that the gel bleach reacts more slowly that liquid bleach. 
I didn’t feel rushed at all during this entire process.

When the shirts were bleached to my liking, I carefully removed the cardboard envelopes from the shirts and washed the shirts in the washing machine and dried them in the dryer.

A few helpful hints if the gel bleach doesn’t seem to be working: 

·         Try washing and drying your shirt again (without a dryer sheet) to remove any remaining fabric sizing.

·         Make sure to shake your Clorox Gel Bleach Pen before using.

·         Be sure you’ve purchased your Clorox Gel Bleach Pen within the last 6 months.
       Bleach does have a shelf life I learned.

·         And if you do get a few random dots of bleach on your shirt where you didn’t plan, don’t stress…
       it will still look cool!

I had lot of fun making these! And it didn’t take long at all! 
I felt like I was breaking the rules…taking away color instead of adding it…and that made it all the more fun!

Thanks, Mary Beth, for the inspiration!

Have a good week!
Mary^