There’s a lot of different ways to get a design onto a shirt–screen printing, heat transfer vinyl (HTV) or even bleach! Each way has its own pros & cons. For Christmas, I decided to make work out shirts for my husband & a friend; however, I was worried HTV would not withstand the repeated washing & wear & tear well. To combat this, I got the idea in my head that I wanted to use bleach to bleach my design permanently onto the shirt. The following tutorial describes how to utilize your cutting machine, freezer paper & bleach to create your very own bleached art shirt.
Supplies
For this project, you only need a couple of supplies & probably have most of them on-hand if you already make shirts or routinely craft. You’ll need:
- Bleach – I use standard bleach & then dilute with water to achieve desired discoloration
- Freezer Paper
- Paintbrush
- Shirt – I used cotton shirts; however, this project should work on any shirt that changes color well with bleach. The darker the shirt, the more contrast your design will have.
- Silhouette Cameo 3 (or other cutting machine)
- Heat press or Cricut Easy Press or iron -I used an Easy Press for this project; however, you can use any heat source you would regularly use for HTV or iron-ons
- Design you want to bleach onto the shirt – See my shop for a variety of fun designs including the “I work out so I can drink more beer” design shown in this tutorial.
Disclosure: Some of these links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.
The Basics
Freezer paper has a shiny, plastic coated side that retains moisture in food when freezing. This plastic coating also makes an excellent water- or paint-tight barrier on shirts when it’s slightly heated. This tutorial utilizes this principal to make a stencil out of freezer paper, heat it slightly to make a water-tight barrier on a shirt & then paint bleach on the freezer paper to bleach a design into a shirt.
Instructions
To make your own bleached art shirt, do the following:
- Choose a design & get it prepared for cutting in your cutting software. Note that I cut the freezer paper for this design with a depth of 2, speed of 3 & force of 10.
2. Place freezer paper shiny side down on your cutting mat.
3. Cut your design with your cutting machine.
Pro Tip: Do not mirror your image if you place the freezer paper shiny side down on your cutting mat.
Pro Tip: If your design has pieces that are not connected to the main design & will require transfer tape, you can use an expended transfer sheet from an HTV project, place it underneath your freezer paper prior to cutting, place your freezer paper shiny side UP on top of the transfer sheet, cut your design mirrored & then remove both the transfer sheet & freezer paper together & press onto your shirt with the transfer paper on top.
4. Remove the cut freezer paper design from your cutting mat. Note that you can use either the actual design or the inverse of the design depending on what you would like bleached on the shirt.
5. Place the freezer paper design into your desired location on the shirt.
6. Press the freezer paper onto the shirt with heat utilizing one of the heat sources above. I used a Cricut Easy Press at 315 degrees for 30 seconds.
7. Place a piece of freezer paper or other barrier inside the shirt below the design to ensure no bleach leaks through the shirt where it’s not wanted.
8. Mix bleach and water to your desired concentration. I used a one-to-one ratio initially and then went back with pure bleach when the color wasn’t as rich as I wanted.
9. Paint the bleach onto your design.
Pro Tip: Do not apply the bleach too liberally as it may seep through the freezer paper near the edges. If a more bleached appearance is desired, allow the original bleach to dry & reapply bleach to desired color.
Pro Tip: Ensure your paintbrush is synthetic. Non-synthetic hair brushes may interact negatively with the bleach (i.e. melt).
10. Allow your bleach to dry.
11. Remove the freezer paper by peeling slowly away from the shirt starting at the edges.
12. Wash as directed by the shirt manufacturer (note that there is bleach on the shirt, so washing by itself or with whites is recommended).
13. Admire your handiwork!
Bleaching shirts is so versatile and the amount of projects you could create is endless! My next step will be to apply varying concentrations of bleach to get gradients in a design. If you try your hand at your very own bleach art project, I would love to see the results! Be sure to tag @bysabrinamarie on Instagram with your project!