Sunday project: bleach dye a dress

Bleach dyeing is kind of like reverse tie dyeing. You take a dark colored, cotton garment (black works best) and soak it in diluted bleach. I had an old 90% cotton/10% spandex dress, but I've done pants and shirts in the past with success. For this project, you will need:

First, fold the dress a few times lengthways

Then fold it the other way, into a little package

Then, put the folded garment in between two pieces of scrap wood and wrap it all with a few rubber bands. You don't want too much bleach to get inside the garment.

good idea to wear these for the next step....

In a stopped sink or a bucket, make a 1:10 solution of bleach to water. Just enough to cover the garment. I put the bleach bottle on top of the whole thing to keep it under water.

Now let it sit for an hour, then take it out and rinse well. I've let items sit for as long as three hours to experiment, but you run the risk of over dyeing and losing the dark colors. And here is what you end up with:

I'll post another photo once it's dry. Happy bleach dyeing, DIYers!