How to Reverse Tie Dye for Less than $20
Bleach Tie Dye
One of my new favorite trends of 2020 is tie dye!! I have picked up a few sweatshirts from shops like Nordstrom and Target in gorgeous cotton candy colors. As much as I love my store bought options, I wanted to try and tie dye my own sweatshirt. I created my first sweatshirt using a crewneck from Amazon, and my friend Kathryn liked it so much that she had me create a set for her! If you have an edgier style, this is a great option for staying on trend while also looking cool 😝. Keep scrolling to learn how to reverse tie dye with bleach at home!
What You Need
To get started, all you need is a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants, a spray bottle, water, and some bleach. I found the sweat set on Amazon for under $15!! I also recommend using gloves for this project, bleach can be damaging to the skin and cause irritation! If you want to get fancy, you can also use rubber bands to tie your design together. I did not use rubber bands for this design however, I found it easiest to just eyeball where I was spraying the bleach.
How to Reverse Tie Dye
Step One:
Before you start with the clothes, I recommend getting your bleach solution prepared. I filled a spray bottle a quarter of the way with straight bleach, and filled another quarter of the bottle with tap water. It is safest for both yourself and the garment to use diluted bleach!
Step Two:
Once your solution is prepared, head into a well ventilated space like a bathroom or laundry room. You want to ideally keep a faucet nearby to soak the garment and rinse off the bleach. To begin the tie dye process, first be sure to wet your sweat set. I just put the sweatshirt and pants under water for around 30 seconds to dampen the clothing. This process works best when the clothes are wet.
Step Three:
Now that your clothes are wet, start bunching them up to begin the bleaching process. I like to create a spiral with the shirt and bunch up the pants so the crotch does not get too colorful. Not a great look 😆At this point, if you are using rubber bands now is a good time to add them so your garment is secured and ready to start reverse tie dying!
Step Four:
Now you are ready to spray!! I spritzed around the front and back of the garment for a few minutes to really get a good saturated effect on the outfit. I recommend concentrating the bleach on some areas and not using as much bleach on others to create dimension. I also think once you finish the initial spray, opening the garment and seeing where you might want to add more bleach. Remember, you can always add but not take away so be conservative at first with the coloring. After you are satisfied with the appearance, let the clothes sit for around 10 minutes.
Step Five:
Once the clothes have sat for 10 minutes, be sure to thoroughly rinse them out. I had to run the clothes under water for a few minutes because the bleach and dye from the original garment will bleed for awhile. When the water runs off the clothing clear, you are good to go!
Step Six:
Now, just wash and dry your outfit as you normally would!! I just used a Tide Free Pod to clean my clothes and they were all set!!
The Final Product
And here is the final product!! I think it turned out beautifully 😍 A huge thank you to my friend Kathryn for modeling the reverse tie dye look, it looks amazing! If you try this out yourself, be sure to tag me on social media!! It’s such an easy process and costs less than $20 in total! If you are still cooped up at home, this is a great DIY project.
Best,
Lauren
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