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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

bleach painted shoes

I love using bleach to dye fabric (bleach discharge is the technical term) to create surfaces filled with pattern. Bleach chemically pulls pigment away from the surface of fabric, leaving everything that you bleach white or a lighter version of the fabric. You can use all kinds of fun techniques with bleach to transform fabric into something beautiful (I write all about it in my book Sew Wild). After finding some super cheap canvas shoes (fake Toms) from our local drug store, I couldn't resist altering them with bleach.

1. Any kind of fabric or canvas shoes will work but make sure to do a little test on the inside of the shoe to see how the fabric reacts- different colors and fabric will have different results. 

2. I used a brush and a little bowl of bleach. I dipped my brush and began covering the surface. TIP- Make sure to use a synthetic brush because the bleach will not eat away at the bristles.

3. I let the bleach react with the surface. TIP- Canvas or heavy/dark fabric can be slow to react with bleach, to speed up the process I like to use a little heat (hair dryer or heat tool).

4. I covered the entire surface of the shoes with all kinds of marks and doodles. 

The result are two pairs of really funky and unique shoes- perfect shoes for summer walks on the beach!





22 comments:

  1. Great idea, I've been looking at bleach painting on Pinterest recently and wanting to give it a go, this is a great option

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  2. this is so cool and fun! thanks for sharing the idea.
    grace

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  3. Oh ist looks amazing!
    I was searching for an idea to use my bleach techniques without Bad surprises. This is great!

    Have a look at my DIY shoes :)

    http://goldsonnenschimmer.blogspot.de/2013/03/diy-sneakers-doodle-art-floral.html

    Yours are quite better

    Linda

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  4. I love this!!! I am stopping at Target on my way home from work. I cannot wait to make a pair for my daughter!!!!!

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  5. I have a little question. Does the bleach eat through the fabric or do you rinse it out as soon as it has done it's work? When I've had drops of bleach land on denim jeans in the laundry room within an hour or two there were snow white holes in my jeans! That is the only reason I haven't tried this already, it looks so pretty!

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  6. You are so clever

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  7. Just love them...What a perfect summer project for my 15 year old daughter and her friends to do!!
    Thanks for the inspiration !!
    Denise

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  8. This is awesome! I want to bleach all the shoes now. All the shoes!

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  9. those are seriously awesome! Your posts are always so inspiring! Thanks 4 sharing all your fun ideas!!

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  10. I LOVE THIS, and I'm glad you didn't use real TOMS haha that would have been expensive

    Julie
    alonewithmytea.blogspot.com

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  11. What a terrific idea! Love these espadrilles!

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  12. Thank you for your suggestion to use straight bleach and a paintbrush. I tried using a bleach pen, but it was difficult to get small detail.

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  13. you are amazing! thanks!

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  14. This can be created with a bleach pen also. It might help someone with polka dots...I have been using bleach pens on t-shirts lately...really cute!

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  15. Wow! This is a great idea! I love it!

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  16. Anonymous1:15 AM

    Em,great idea! You are so smart! Everybody can make their own favourite painted shoes through using correspoding color of the bleach.To tell you the truth, I am a loyal fan of the anime bleach and I have ever bought my favourite cosplay costumes on the on-line stores, for example, skycostume store and cosplayed as my favourite character. That is cool! So impressive! So, why do not you ,ladies and gentlemen go to buy your favourite cosplay costumes and cosplay as your most loved characters?

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  18. After finding some super cheap canvas shoes (fake Toms) from our local drug store, ... tomsslippers.blogspot.com

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