How to Bleach a Shirt: Method 1 (Spray Adhesive and Card Stock paper)

I recently became obsessed with the "bleached shirt" look. I have several of my own. It has been a learning processes. I tried four different ways. One of which is, in my opinion, the best way to go about it. The other three are just not up my alley. Luckily the processes are not that hard to learn. I will go through all four types and my experiences with each.

(NOTE: I made these projects several weeks/months ago. Therefore, I will not have pictures of every step, but I will explain in great detail each step)


Here are the four types I tried:

1) Spray Adhesive and Cardstock Template
2) Hot Glue Gun and Spray Bleach
3) Bleach Pen and Freezer Paper Template
4) Freezer Paper Template and Spray Bleach (THE BEST OPTION BY FAR!!)



What you will need:

Type 1: Spray adhesive and Cardstock Template

• spray glue adhesive (Elmers is best)
• Card stock
• Xacto Knife
• Scissors 
• Pencil and/or pen
• Plastic cutting board from Wal-mart (super cheap!) 
• Cardboard/plastic bags 
• Bottle of bleach water
• T-shirt of your choice

For method one I made my Hunger Games Mockingjay shirt. This is the first shirt I made and I over bleached it. Go figure right?

Step 1: Find the template that you want from Google/Bing/Pinterest/etc. Once you find the template that you want copy and paste it to a Word Document. I now prefer Word Publisher, it is easier to deal with when you are editing pictures and such.

Step 2: Determine the size you want your design to be on your shirt. Then print it out on card stock. Do not use regular paper with this particular method. Card stock is really thick paper and will be easy to peel off the shirt.

Step 3: Cut the design out. Here comes the fun part. You have to decide if you want your design to stay the color of the shirt or if you want it bleached out. For this shirt I wanted the Mockingjay to be black, so I cut the design out and was really careful about the small edges and corners.

Step 4: Spray the back of design with the spray adhesive. Put the design on a plastic bag or a sheet of wax paper before you spray it.

Step 5: Before you spray the shirt, make sure that you put an ample amount of cardboard or plastic bags (I have even used the plastic lids to tubs). You do not want the bleach and/or the design to bleed through to the back of the shirt.

Word to the wise: DO NOT OVER BLEACH!!!  It will soak through the shirt and under the template and it will not look right at all.

Step 6: When you are done bleaching the shirt let it dry a little bit and then pull the template off. 

Step 7: Rinse the shirt thoroughly in the kitchen sink and make sure that all the bleach is out of the shirt.  Then wash the shirt by itself in the washing machine on quick cycle. 

If you try this method and have better success and/or like it best let me know about your experiences. I am always interested in hearing about others crafty successes.