D.I.Y: Studded Distressed Dip-bleached Shorts

D.I.Y. EDGY DIP-BLEACHED SHORTS

Hello again, I know this comes a little late in the season, but there is still a month or so left of summer to rock these shorts and it's easy to blend shorts into your fall wardrobe. Do it yourself jean shorts are an easy way to get the style you want without breaking your budget. Not to mention that every pair you make will be completely unique.

If you like shorts that stand out, these Dip-bleached shorts will give you the right edgy look you might be craving. 

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THE DIP-BLEACHING PROCESS

You will need:

A pair of gloves, a bucket, any brand of reg. bleach, a clip hanger, scissors and an old pair of jeans, at least an hour of your time and patients.

To start off you need a pair of jeans that you don't care for anymore and you don't mind experimenting with. I had this old pair of Bluenotes Capri jeans from last summer hiding in the back of my closet that I chose to use. I know they were probably only about a $15 price point when I bought them in the first place, so I had no problem using them. I'm sure I got my dollars worth out of them last summer. Also, they had already come with some "distressed" patterns on them. So it worked well with the vision I had for these shorts. Cut your jeans at approx. 2 inches or so away from the your desired length.

Front and back views from the beginning.

This is so you will have the extra fabric to work with during the D.I.Y. process. Bleaching too long can eat away at fabric and distressing takes away from it as well. Better to play it safe with extra fabric then end up with falling apart short-shorts at the end (unless that was what you were going for?).

The next step is to dip-bleach your shorts. The few items you should look for is a clip hanger, a bucket and some sort of rack or place that  you can suspend your shorts from. Keep in mind that it is important to have your shorts suspended straight and at equal length in your bleach. Bleach runs and if your shorts aren't suspended equally at the start, you might end up with a wonky outcome in your dip-dyeing process. I used this common plastic clip hanger.

Because bleach is a strong chemical I chose to do this process outside. If your unable to, I would suggest trying this in your bathroom tub, but with an open window or ceiling fan for ventilation (bleach has strong fumes). After filling the bucket to about an inch deep of pure concentrated bleach, hang shorts with bottom edges IN the bleach.


I used a drying rack to suspend my shorts over the bucket. 

It's important to remember that BLEACH WILL RUN UP THE FABRIC. This is why I only used an inch deep of the stuff. If you fill the bucket with bleach up to the spot where you want your shorts to be bleached IT WILL GO HIGHER. You'll end up with shorts bleached all the way to the top.


As you can see, the bleach has creeped its way up the shorts fairly quickly. They haven't begun to fade the dye out yet.

Leave the shorts in for about a half hour checking every 10 minutes. Remember that bleach can EAT material when left in too long. Since my jeans are a thin stretch denim I recommend no longer than this. If your using a thick regular jean then you may need to go longer.

After 10 minutes in the solution you can see the dye begin to lighten up. :D

20 minutes in.

At the half hour mark I took my shorts out. You couldn't see much difference in the bleaching, but don't worry about that, they are! After the washing you'll see the difference! When removing them from the bleach put them straight into a bucket of water.

Since I did mine outdoors I had a bucket and hose ready.

Get rid of the bleach left over and refill the basin with a half vinegar - half water solution. Vinegar is important because it acts as a stopper to the bleach. It makes the bleach quit turning your shorts and it will prevent any left over bleach from eating any unwanted holes in the fabric or from continuing to degrade the material. Leave them in it for about another 5-10 mins.


Notice that you can see the bleaching now?!

 After this you can simply run your shorts through a cycle in the wash to get all the vinegar/bleach out and have a look at you finished product.


Taa Daa! Tri-colour? What a surprise!

 I found it really interesting that they turned out with the bottom, which spent the ENTIRE time IN the bleach, managed to remain a darker colour than the area where the bleach ran up the fabric. Maybe it has something to do with the quality of dye in the jeans? I don't know but I kind of like that it turned out the way it did.  Also have a look at the bleach that turned pee-yellow while I was bleaching them! WTH?! (◎_◎;)


ode'de urine

And that concludes Part One: The Dip-bleaching Process of my first D.I.Y. shorts project. Check back for part two where I will show you how I distressed, studded and finished these shorts.

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Finally, I just wanted to add that D.I.Y. projects, to me, are like an experimentation. I have a plan and an idea of the outcome I want in my head. But I know I will run into problems along the way. I plan to write about the outcomes completely and give you my best recommendations for your own projects. If you have any questions. Please leave them in the comments below and I will try to help you out. ヾ(＾∇＾)