Bleach tie dye
 

So I've had a bunch of tops that were destined for the rag bag because they were stained (or just colors I never wore). A couple are too big to wear as an everyday top, but being men's tall t-shirts, they're perfect as nighshirts.

Throughout the week, I've been tying the shirts, and tonight I bleached them, cut the strings and they're in the wash now.

I won't know for sure how they've turned out until they're out of the dryer, but I think some of them are going to be really cool.

Some of them I plan on tie dyeing again with colored dyes over the top of the bleach dyeing.

This has been so much fun (Though I'm going to have an awful lot of tie dye in my wardrobe).

So, I just put the tops into the dryer. I didn't realize it, until I counted but I dyed 15 tops.

10 look like they're going to be really cool.

So much dye was pulled out of the remaining 5 that I'll want to dye them. Two I expected this to happen and the other 3 just ended up much paler than I expected.

You're going hippy! You can do the macrobiotic diet.

Are you dyeing or bleaching? Just be aware, with the latter, that it will continually degrade fabric integrity without an arresting agent being used. Bleachstop is what I'd recommend (sodium thiosulfate).

Discharge dyeing can be a ton of fun, but it does require some fiber care compared for normal acid or fiber reactive dyeing. Have fun with it, I SO miss dyeing. Great creative outlet.

oooooh yes..i hung a pair of plain black leggings in the shower once and splattered bleach all over them and then chucked them in the wash...i had previously gotten bleach on them whilst cleaning and thought i had ruined them..now people comment on them when i wear them out..i have a dress that is going in this direction too...no matter how hard i try not to get bleach on stuff it seems to appear out of no where like magic..i have taken to wearing aprons now for that very reason...cheers liz

Originally Posted by Arctic Mama:
Are you dyeing or bleaching? Just be aware, with the latter, that it will continually degrade fabric integrity without an arresting agent being used. Bleachstop is what I'd recommend (sodium thiosulfate).

Discharge dyeing can be a ton of fun, but it does require some fiber care compared for normal acid or fiber reactive dyeing. Have fun with it, I SO miss dyeing. Great creative outlet.

In this case, I only used bleach. A couple of the tops had been previously dyed with dyes (using the Tulip tie-dye kits from Michael's), and I didn't like how the dye pattern came out. I had planned on redyeing them to change the pattern (I'd planned on using darker dyes).

I was aware that bleach deteriorates the fabric, which is why I used tops that would have otherwise been destined for the rag bag and the trash can.

Many of the tops are worn enough that my dyeing efforts were meant only to possibly get a few more months of wear from them (they were worn from wear, not previous bleachings. I never use bleach on my laundry).

I didn't realize that bleach deterioration wasn't self-limiting, however. Thanks for that information. In all the tutorials I'd read, and watched only thorough rinsing of the fabric was mentioned. I chose to wash the tops on the longest wash cycle with detergent and washed them twice. I assumed the damage would be permanent but not progressive. I'll have to get some of the bleach stop, though - especially if I ever intend to use bleach to discharge dye new fabric.


The experiment was quite a success, considering I expected only about half the tops to be salvageable. I will be re-dying some of the tops, either because the bleach removed too much color, or because I just think the effect will be intresting.

One effect that I want to try is bleaching an area of a black shirt, and then redyeing the area with colored dyes. Some of the effects I've seen with this resemble stained glass.

I only had one black shirt in the mix (I never wear black) and I didn't leave the bleach on long enough to redye those areas. I love how it did turn out though, so I won't be rebleaching it.

Overall, I was very conservative with the bleach. I diluted it first (about 3 parts water to 1 parts bleach) and the longest time any shirt went from bleach application to washer was about 15 to 20 minutes.

Ironically, the shirts that were stained the worst, I think came out the best. Two were kelly green "Ireland" graphic tees that I bought in a big & tall men's shop for St. Patrick's Day (two different years). I'd been using them for nightshirts (and I still will, because they're both a little too big to wear as tops). I figured if they fell apart or looked terrible, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

I'm hoping to photograph some of them to send pics to my family - especially to my sister (who got me into the tie-dyeing with the tie dye kits). When I do, I'll attach a couple of the nicest ones here.

Oh yes, it's a bummer but bleach will continue to degrade fabric in perpetuity, as it actually changes the chemical structure of the fiber. Fortunately bleachstop is cheap stuff for nicer projects and, as you said, if you're doing it to rag shirts it doesn't make as much of a difference as discharging a rayon scarf or chenille sweater ;)

It sounds like you had some very fun experiments! That's the best way to do it if you're not looking for reproducible results - alter variables and see where the journey takes you. I really do miss dyeing :o