DIY Bleached Pants

I made my first successful DIY! Snaps for me! I had a pair of black pants that were not getting a lot of wear because they were so tight they were hard to get off... : /. This problem lay mostly in the fact I had to roll them a lot so they would be okay length wise. So, I decided to cut off the extra length and make the pants a lot more interesting!

First, I put the pants on and marked off where I needed to cut them off with soap. I cut them off in "small" chunks so I didn't cut off too much.

The pants now have a 26 inch (66 cm) inseam. Yay! I cut about 4.5 inches (11 cm) off.

I've wanted to bleach tie-dye something for a while and these were perfect for it. The method I used was a little different that how you die stuff as a little kid. Instead of squeezing color out of a bottle, you soak the jeans.

To get the jeans ready, I folded them up a bunch.

What you need for the bleach-y part:

Bucket
Bleach
Gloves (bleach will hurt your hands)
Two wood stakes, sticks, 2x4's, ect.
Rubber Bands


This next part is hard to explain, but that's why I have pictures!! Take the jeans and put the wood stakes of either side of the jeans. Then put rubber bands around the jeans and stakes. The jeans should now be stuck in between the two wood stakes. Anything the isn't covered by the stakes or folded inside will get bleached. Basically, if you can see it, it will get bleached.

 

My bucket was not big enough to submerge the pants totally. To make sure everywhere got bleached, I stuck one end in for 5 minutes and then a different end in for 5 minutes until every end had been submerged.

What concerned me as I was bleaching the pants was this weird rust-y looking colour seeping off the jeans. If you have that, don't be worried, that's the black die being bleached. Your bleach-water will take on a pee-like colour, but the bleach will work just as well. :)


After you've done all the bleaching you want to do, pull the rubber bands and stakes off the pants. You can now clearly see your handiwork! Before you wash them or really do anything with them, you should hose them down. I did it under my back deck on gravel so I wouldn't kill all the grass.

As I let the rest of my laundry finish, I let them drain on my clothes line.

You MUST wash them before you wear them. When you wash them, wash them by themselves or they will bleach anything and everything else in the load.

Once you've washed and dried them, wear them!

Outfit 1

Outfit 1:
Shirt- $45, Nordstrom, no longer in stock, but similar ones here and here
Necklace- DIY
Belt- $2.99, thriftted
Pants- $50, Nordstrom, no longer in stock but similar ones here and here
Shoes- Steve Madden, but had them for ages, don't know price or where I got them

Happy DIY-ing!

xoxo,

Caroline