How to Bleach a Shirt: Method 4 (Freezer Paper and Spray Bleach)

So this is the last and the greatest way to bleach a shirt (in my opinion)!!!!

Basically you do everything that you would do for the first method with the spray adhesive. So I will not go into great detail about this one but I will put the pictures up for you to see!!

I made 4 shirts (successfully) with this method. 1) Harry Potter Deathly Hallows ; 2) Bad Wolf TARDIS ; 3) Ich liebe dich (it means "I love you" in German) ; and 4) Let It Be with 3 flying birds


What you need:

• 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
• Freezer Paper
• Tape
• Iron

1) Find the template online. Put in Word Document or Word Publisher. Change the color to grey so it will save on your ink

2) Trace the template on the freezer paper (on the not-wax-paper side). My helpful hint is wrap a small about of tape on the edge of both so it doesn't move while you trace it. 

3) Use the Exacto Knife to cut it out. 

4) Iron it on your shirt (wax paper side down). 

5) Put cardboard inside the shirt to protect the back. Then spray it with the bleach water. DO NOT OVER BLEACH!!!! It will seep under the template and ruin your design. 

6) Wash it in the sink to get all the bleach out and then wash it on the quick cycle by itself in the washing machine. 

How to Bleach a Shirt: Method 3 (Freezer paper and Bleach Pen)

So, this is the third way that I have tried to make a bleached t-shirt. Let me just say that I HATE this method with a passion! (Moreso than the hot glue gun approach)

I made my BBC Sherlock Holmes t shirt with this method. It is so not even perfect. I really want to make another one with spray bleach.

Anyways,
 WHAT YOU WILL NEED: 

• 1-2 Bleach Pens (Amount depends on the size of your template and what you want on the shirt)
• Freezer paper (I swear by this stuff. But other people like contact paper)
• Exacto Knife and/or scissors 
• Colored t shirt
• Cardboard or trash bags or plastic lids
• Lots of patience
• Iron 
• White wash rag (optional: I used one because I over-bleached as usual)
• Cheap plastic cutting board from Wal-Mart
• Clear tape 
• Pencil

1) What I did was Googled "I am SHER Locked" and tons of templates came up. Next, copy and paste it to a Word Document or Word Publisher (my new best friend). I cropped the picture enough so I could expand it to the who page. Helpful hint: change the color of the picture to gray so you will not use up all of your expensive printer ink. You're Welcome. 

2) Trace the template on the freezer paper with a pencil. HELPFUL HINTS: A) Freezer paper has two different sides (DUH!). One side is wax paper (that means it will be smooth and waxy) and the other is not wax paper (see what I did there?). You draw on the not-wax-paper side.  B) Get some clear tape and tape the edges of the template and the freezer paper together so that it will not move. 

3) After you cut the template out you iron it on to the shirt (wax paper side down). 

Funny story: I did this project in my kitchen one weekend and my niece was at my house. She is almost 2 years old. It was late and I wasn't paying attention and my arm decided to touch the iron and I burnt my arm on the iron (I still have a faint burn mark). When I showed my boo-boo to Addie she kissed it and then she tried to spake my dog, Scruffy, because she thought that he hurt me. She kept yelling "Bad bad Flubby. Bad Bad." 

4) Next you use the bleach pen to bleach your shirt. 

As you can see in the picture below, there are brush stroke marks in the "SHER" part and the "E" did not bleach a full square. :(  I hate bleach pens and I will never use them for these projects again. 

5) After you pull the template off, wash in the kitchen sink until the bleach is all gone. Then run it through the quick cycle in the washing machine by itself. 

Let me know what yall think! Especially if you have had better success with Bleach Pens.