DIY Bleach Shirt Tutorial

So, we decided we wanted to start a new tradition and make the kids matching shirts for our annual vacations each year. Our first challenge was wondering how will we ever get all of these little ones to look at us and smile for a picture?! (never.going.to.happen) Well, we decided to do the design on the back of the shirts (also because some of the shirts we bought had a pocket on the front), so that solves that problem! Next up was actually making the shirts. We will write out the steps and attach pictures but be warned, we can never seem to get our pictures to attach in the correct order so they might show up at the top of this post.

First buy the shirts. We bought ours at Target and Walmart- a quick note about the shirt from Walmart is that it WOULD NOT bleach!!! No matter what we did (not washed, prewashed, loads of bleach) it just wouldn’t work. So we do not recommend buying your shirts at Walmart because of this.

Next pick your design (if you have a cricut or silhouette you can use one of their designs). Then cut your design out on freezer paper. Lay design on t-shirt and iron on (make sure you put the shiny side down).

Once freezer paper design is adhered to shirt begin filling it in with bleach. We opted to use the Clorox bleach pen (make sure it says “gel for whites” on it). Depending on the color of your shirt it may take up to 20 minutes for the bleach to work.

Once your design has bleached, remove freezer paper and wash shirt by hand under cold water. Wipe away any excess bleach with your fingers. (Don’t worry your bleach will not run and smudge, we promise) Then put the shirt in the wash machine, dry it and it’s done!!
It was so simple, and the design possibilities are endless!