Bleach Pen T-shirt Design

Pinterest….. you are a blessing and a curse. More of a curse really. I mean, I not only need a full-time nanny, chef, house-cleaner and regular handy man to give me uninterrupted work time, I need a couple of houses to fill, lots more children to clothe and serve the endless recipes to, more money to finance it all and massive storage to do everything I like. It’s just too much!

I digress. I do like Pinterest obviously but I have limits. One day a week (Wednesdays!) and only after everything else is done. Don’t worry, I still manage to find lots to tickle my fancy. The latest thing… Bleach Pen T-shirt Design.

Add some personal flair to any item of clothing by simply using a bleach pen.

I tried this project on a t-shirt, tank top and a pair of black pants. The pants were kind of necessary since this happened.

I blame MJ.

To begin, place a bit of cardboard topped with wax/parchment paper inside your clothing item.

Decide on your doodle. Free-handing is fun and who knows where it will lead. But if that freaks you out, you can sketch it out on paper first and trace it on. (Chalk pulls the shirt but a disappearing ink pen would work.) Design cut-outs (from a Cricut machine for example) and stencils would help the nervous-of-hand.

Shake the pen first!! See below.

I was really excited. Oh well. Adds to its uniqueness.

Doodle with the bleach pen. The bleach is in gel form so, when well shaken, it will go where it’s placed.

Depending on how hard you squeeze, your lines can be thin or thick.

Then let the bleach go to work. The longer the bleach sits, the whiter the designs will be. If you let it completely dry, they will be white white. I didn’t let mine sit very long (10-15 minutes) because I wanted to preserve a little of the color. Just watch the progression and you will be able to see the color change.

You can see the color variations below just from the time it took to do the swirls. The first ones are whiter (I started at the top, the sleeve was later) and the rest are various gradations of whitish blue.

I was quicker with the pants so the color is more uniform.

When you think the color is just right, rinse the garment in cold water to stop the bleaching action. Then wash and dry everything as normal. The makers of the bleach pen do recommend washing things separately or with all whites just in case. If you rinse really well, this shouldn’t be a problem.

I actually washed all my stuff by hand for the first go around. I had three pieces and it was quicker (I was excited!) and less wasteful than filling up the washing basin. Also, I wanted to do some designs on the back of the purple shirt so getting it washed and dried right away allowed me to continue doodling.

Remember, you can always add more later. Taking away is a little more difficult. I am still deciding if I should add more to the red shirt. I’m thinking all over hearts…..

Few more shots. Sorry for the weird poses. I’m not a professional and my photographer was at work. I like showing the clothes on an actual person. And here, I am that actual person. : )

It is really simple and doesn’t take much time. The rinse step is the most exciting to see what it really looks like. Now I’m off to find what else I can doodle on…

Take care!

-amy c