How to Bleach a Shirt with a Vinyl Stencil
Today we are going to show you how to bleach a shirt with a vinyl stencil.
We are using a design from the Patriotic SVG Design & Font Bundle:
Cut and weed a vinyl decal design.
Designs that are big and bold will work best because the edges of the bleached areas will not be completely crisp.
Transfer the vinyl to transfer tape and apply to a shirt.
To help hold the shirt in place, put a piece of poster board or cardboard inside the shirt, then pin the shirt to the board.
Note: not all shirts will bleach. You need a blend of at least 65% polyester. We had great results with “heather” shirts like these or these.
Carefully remove the transfer tape. Remove pins if you used them but leave the posterboard/cardboard inside the shirt – this will protect the back from the bleach bleeding through.
Working outside on a sunny day is the ideal condition for a bleach shirt project – the sun helps to speed up the process.
To concentrate the bleached area to around the design only, create your own oversized stencil with a large sheet of thin poster board. Rip out a hole in the middle that will fit the design. Ripping the edges of the hole will give the bleached areas a more “organic” edge instead of a hard line that you’d get from cutting the hole with scissors.
Spray straight bleach (undiluted) onto the shirt. You don’t need a lot because you don’t want to oversaturate the shirt – just until it is damp.
It’s recommended to wear protective gloves.
Press a paper towel over the design to soak up excess bleach.
Press the paper towel straight down, don’t wipe back and forth because you might accidentally remove the stencil.
Remove the larger stencil, then spray a couple sprays of bleach to create some random bleach drops, if desired.
Let the shirt sit in the sun until it has reached the desired lightness.
Remove the vinyl stencil.
Once the shirt has reached the desired lightness, dunk it into a mixture of half water and half hydrogen peroxide.
This stops the bleaching process..
Throw the shirt into the washer and dry per instructions.
Find the Remember Our Heroes svg design in the Patriotic Bundle:
Watch the project video below:
PIN it for later:
