LDS Bleached Shirts

It's been going around Pinterest like wildfire!

Taking a bleach pen to a plain t-shirt and

you have a new fantastic shirt to wear.

Last month we had an activity planning meeting with all

of the Young Women in both wards.

They wanted to do Bleached Shirts.

I was put in charge of the activity and started doing research

on what works and what doesn't.

I was surprised to find that no one had done an LDS themed bleached shirt.

I was hoping to get an easy out for this activity.

No such luck!

So I put together this tutorial in the hopes that it will help someone.

Without further adu, here is how I made my shirts.

Supplies:

T-shirt (100% cotton, if there is polyester in it, it will not bleach as well)

Bleach pen (I got mine at the grocery store for $2.57)

Cardboard (to go in between your shirt)

An idea of what you want to put on your shirt (see below)

Chalk (optional: if you want to draw out your idea first)

First, put the piece of cardboard in between the layers of your shirt.

Make sure that the cardboard is covering the entire area

that you want to bleach.

Otherwise, the bleach will run through to the back of your shirt.

Second, take your chalk or your stencil and get your design ready.

I found a template of the Salt Lake City Temple online

and used that (see below for template).

I printed it off on freezer paper, then used an exacto knife,

and cut it out around the edges, so I had the border of the temple.

Then I ironed it on to the shirt, so it would stay put.

I was hoping that if I ironed on the stencil, the spires would show up.

I used my blunt piece of chalk to write out the words on the shirt.

I would recommend a sharpened piece of white chalk, I didn't have a sharpener that would fit chalk in it.

Then I went over the temple and the words with the bleach pen.

If you look at the temple, you can see that I didn't try and

stay nice and neat around the outside.

I was hoping that the bleach would only penetrate the shirt and

not soak through the freezer paper.

I free handed where the windows go and didn't end up following my chalk,

I thought my chalk markings were off.

I let the shirt sit for 10 minutes and it didn't

look like it had done enough bleaching.

So I let it sit for another 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the stencil and the cardboard,

without letting any of the bleach touch anything!

Then I rinsed the bleach off with cold water.

When you rinse it, you can tell where the bleach is.

It ends up being white gunk that you are wiping off.

Check to make sure that you have all of the white gunk off,

then ring out the shirt.

Here is what it looked like.

I let this shirt sit, while I did my shirt.

I found this idea online by doing a Google search

for "LDS Young Women Image."

I just did it freehand.

I like how it turned out, but I would have done it differently

if I thought about it more.

This shirt, I only let sit for 10 minutes.

You can see around the BE that the bleach was starting to bleed

and I didn't want it to get too far.

 Once it was rinsed, I grabbed the purple shirt and threw both of them

into a cold, short wash with some vinegar and detergent.

Once that was done, into the dryer they went.

 Here is how they turned out.

Sorry there isn't a picture of me in my shirt.

I'm 18 weeks pregnant and am in the stage where I feel fat and not pregnant. :(

 This is the best picture I could get of my little princess in her shirt.

She will be able to wear it for a few years, which I love!

Here is what I learned:

- You don't need to use a lot of the bleach to get it to lighten your shirt.

But that is all dependent on the material your shirt is made of.

I put a small amount of bleach on, then used the tip to spread the bleach, it worked perfectly.

- You want to let your shirt sit for 10-25 minutes, once you are done bleaching.

I decided to set my alarm in ten minute increments so I could keep an eye on it.

- I had my husband help me get the cardboard out of the shirt.

I put my hands in the neck hole and he grabbed the cardboard.

That way I could put it in the sink nicely so the fabric didn't fold and the bleach didn't get everywhere.

Ideas for LDS designs:

Like I mentioned earlier, I did a Google search for "LDS Young Women Images."

I found 19 images that I loved!

I have put them into a PDF file for you to download.

Click here for the Bleach Shirt Document.

The temple stencil is page 4 of that document.

I think that about covers it.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...I will update if I remember.

Let me know if you have any questions.

I would love to see pictures if you try an LDS design!