DIY: Bleach T-Shirts

    Even though Susan left to go back to Idaho for school a few days ago, today's post is a DIY we did together last week. After seeing some great bleach shirts on Pinterest, I thought it would be a really great way to make some Wyoming themed shirts before we both went back to school. I think using state outlines is a fun way to show your state pride, but any relatively simple design works pretty well. The process is pretty simple and fun, and a great way to spend an afternoon. I would recommend doing this project outside, because of the bleach, or at least in a well ventilated area. Here's what you'll need:

    - Cotton T-Shirts
    - A 50-50 mixture of bleach and water in a spray bottle
    - Contact Paper
    - Cardboard
    - Printouts of the designs you want
    - An X-Acto Knife or other craft knife
    - Scissors
    - Hydrogen Peroxide

    Start by taping the design you've chosen to your contact paper, and using the X-Acto knife, cut out your design. The part of the contact paper you should keep and apply to the shirt is different based on how you want the shirt to look. For example, I used an outline of Wyoming with the area code 307 inside, and I wanted the numbers to stay black, so I kept the outer rectangle and the numbers. Susan wanted her cowboy to stay turquoise, so she applied that part of the contact paper to her shirt. Put a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt to prevent the bleach from soaking through, and apply your design. Once you have your design pressed onto your shirt and any area that you don't want to get bleach on covered, you are ready to start bleaching!

    Start by spraying just a little bleach and allowing it to dry. Gradually spray more bleach until you've reached a result you like. Once the bleach is completely dry, remove the contact paper. For my shirt, I removed the outer rectangle and sprayed a little more bleach to rough up the edges a little. Once all of the bleach is dry and contact paper removed, apply hydrogen peroxide to the bleached areas. This reacts with the bleach to keep it from continuing to degrade the fabric. I would recommend putting the hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle like the bleach because it easily runs off or pools up when poured directly onto the fabric. Once your shirt is dry, hand wash it and you're ready to wear! I'd recommend hand washing the first few times, but other than that, it should be good to go. Here we are wearing our finished products!