https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/bleached-polka-dotty-patterned-pants • Posted by kendralaw
Everyone loves Polkadots right?!
Everyone loves Polkadots right?!
1. I grabbed up some teal pants I found at the thrift shop. You could use jeans or colorful shorts, so long as they are mostly cotton there should be no problem bleaching them out. 2. Grab some chalk and a yard stick, if you want your polka dots to be somewhat uniform it is a good idea to mark out a grid, or map out your dots with some chalk or a washable marker. If you want something crazier you could always test your design out in chalk first, maybe try zigzags, stars, lyrics from your favorite song, "I love polka dots", you know, whatever.
3. Once you've stuffed the legs with paper bags or cardboard to avoid your dots bleeding through, grab a bunch of q-tips and a cup of bleach and head outside. Remember, work quick, I worked from the bottom left to right and up the front, putting dots at each intersection in my grid pattern. I then flipped the jeans over, and did the same on the back. Back on front I added more dots in the center of the grids (work bottom to top again), and repeated onto the back. The pants need to go into the wash quickly to stop the bleaching process. You can't tell by the pictures, but because the second set of dots had less time to set, they are a lighter pinky color, where as the first set is pretty much white. I love that I was able to get this effect. If I did this project again I might water down the bleach a bit, so I don't feel like I have to rush through it so quickly. (The more watered down your bleach is, the longer it will take to fade your fabric.) Thats it! Have fun!