Monday, July 2, 2012

Tee Shirt Fix

The trouble with brand new solid colored tees is they don't always stay new-looking for long. I'm forever trying to find ways to keep them out of the rag pile. Here's my quick fix for one that fell victim to a cooking spatter:

First, I hung the shirt in the shower and spritzed it all over with a diluted bleach solution (a.k.a. shower cleaner). I wanted to soften up the background color and give it a faded tie-dye look. After rinsing and drying, I lined the inside of the shirt with plastic and painted the design on with bleach. I went for the quick and easy approach and just winged it with a brush, but I think a stencil would work well for a more precise design.


After washing and drying, the design will be lighter. I like the faux batik look - and it occurs to me it might be nice to paint on another color using fabric dye. Lucky for me I'm kind of a klutz...no doubt I'll have more chances to experiment with the technique!

6 comments:

Bish Denham said...

What a totally cool idea! Now, if I could only wield like you do... A stencil though, I could handle that.

Anonymous said...

Very cute. Want to come to my closet next?

Kimbra Kasch said...

Love it and what a great idea to put a new spin on an accident - I'm always staining clothes with food, dirt, coffee... thanks for the tip

Ara Burklund said...

Wow! Cool idea!!! I need to show this post to my daughter. Between the two of us, we've got a whole bunch of ruined shirts!

ICQB said...

Oh, wow! That's terrific! What a great idea. My shirts are always getting splatters and spots on them. Someday when I'm feeling artistic, I'll give it a try (but I'll probably need stencils ; )

Lisa said...

Hello Adrienne, I love it, it has a classy worn out look and looks very comfortable too.