Around $1.20 for a huge bottle means it’s a very cheap way to give clothes and other fabric items a make over.

I experimented on a lot of different items with varied results so let’s see the before/afters before I show you the very cool gradient bleach.

First an old cardigan in a colour which didn’t go with my wardrobe.

After soaking in the bleach and water solution for around 20 minutes the only part which changed colour was the cotton lace. Everything else was apparently synthetic so it didn’t take the bleach. Bleach works best with natural fibers.

After:

Not the cute cream/white cardigan I was hoping for but still cuter than it started.

This shirt was accidentally dyed blue in the wash with some jeans. I really loved it but the blue looked really odd with the pinks of the flowers.

After:

The blue came out completely and I left it in the bleach long enough that the flowers became lighter and more pastel. Definitely like this one!

I threw in one of James’ old shirts to see if it was salvageable.

It became a bit brighter but there was not a super noticable change.

I threw in another few dresses at the end which were also blue from those jeans and they turned out like new.

Now let’s get a bit more fancy!

This shirt was in my “donate” pile and I decided to experiment on it.

I set up a hanging rack so I could suspend the shirt over the bucket of bleach.

Then I lowered it so the bottom was sitting in the bleach solution.

After a while the solution started creeping up the shirt.

To speed the process up I poured boiling water over the shirt to draw the bleach up further.

Then it was just a matter of waiting until it was the colour I wanted.

Getting there…

You can see the gradual change of colour more clearly here:

Once that was all finished I threw everything in the wash to remove any extra bleach and get rid of the terrible smell. If you decide to do something like this make sure to wear gloves and keep the area ventilated. Keep in mind that bleach isn’t great for delicate fabrics too as it is corrosive.

And after washing and drying this was the finished shirt!

This was really just a test to see what I could do with the bleach. Now that I know how it works and the options I have I want to experiment more. I think this would be a very cool way to give old clothes a make over. I’ve been thinking of using it to paint on designs like leopard print on things too!

I had this dress which while very comfortable I never really wore it because I didn’t like how the top sat. I had already given it a make over, I can’t find the damn post I did it in though. So typical! >_<

Anyway, the fabric was pretty so I made a couple of pajama tops out of it instead.

I cut the skirt part out and cut a piece which was long enough to wrap around my torso.

Then I stitched it in a tube and hemmed the top.

I made some straps out of the same fabric by cutting a rectangle and folding it in thirds.

I measured and stitched them on.

Taadaa!

Extremely easy to make these. The stretchy fabric is forgiving so you don’t need to be exact in your measurements.  You can of course just buy some tshirt fabric or cut up an old shirt to make into your own version.

They are super comfy and great for sleeping in Summer when you want fabric which breathes a little better.

Now this dress has had 3 incarnations I just need to decide what to do with the bodice part of it and maybe I can make it 4 XD

It’s a surprisingly easy modification to do with any nice skirt you want to make a change with!

You need:

• A skirt
• Elastic or ribbon which is the same or smaller width than the waist band
• Needle and thread

To make arm holes cut two lines down the side of the skirt starting just below the waist band. Measure and make sure your arm can actually fit through the holes. Fold the edges of the fabric in and stitch around in a circle so they are edged with a nice smooth seam.

Next is the neck. The neckline is gathered using the waistband and a piece of elastic.

Make a small cut on either side of the zip. This is where you can poke through the elastic to thread it around the whole waistband. I was lucky, my waistband was made hollow, you may need to unpick some stitches.

Thread the elastic all way through and out the other side. Stitch it place so it can’t move around and then stitch up the holes again. Again make sure you measure so you know it will fit around your neck comfortably without choking you. Oxygen = good.

That’s it… seriously.

Depending on the skirt and the fabric you used the new shirt will drape in different ways. My skirt was very clingy so it worked with and without a belt.

Though I always prefer with a belt for more shape.

Such an easy way to give an old skirt a new lease on life! What do you guys think?

I used:

• A suit jacket
• Sewing machine/needle and thread
• Scissors

First thing I did was cut off the sleeves. I cut them very close to the collar so the shape was more vest-ish than just jacket-with-no-sleeves 😉

See what I mean?

Next I tried it on and pinned so it was fitted under the arm holes. I also started playing with the shape at the bottom to make the edges a lot more pointed.

The back started off plain like this:

But as the waist was far too loose I pinned it in a box pleat.

After trying it on and adjusting the fit I started securing it all together. I stitched the box pleat first.

Then the dart under the arm hole.

Then I stitched the pointed ends at the front. While doing this I folded so far that the bottom button was off to the side to open it more up.

Lastly I re-hemmed the arm holes.

The result was much more fitted!

I didn’t like the top of the box pleat sitting slightly bunched so I stitched it down a little more. I left the bottom to flare out so it created a slight bussle effect.

And there you have it!

The back puffes out and looks great with a ruffly skirt but I’m thinking of adding some snap closures so I can decide if I want it to be puffy or not depending on outfit.

It’s not something that I would wear every day but I like the shape and it fills a gap in my wardrobe!

Have you guys done any fun modifications lately?

But ignoring the whole debate over cool or not cool, comfortable or not comfortable I certainly didn’t want plain ones so I added some quick decorations to jazz them up a bit.

I used some nylon lace, ribbon flowers and a hot glue gun. You really should sew them but I’m not expecting mine to last for very long since the fluff is already half gone XD It’ll be Summer soon anyway so I can go back to Mario slippers!

First I glued a row of lace around the edge of the turned over part.

Easy.

A couple of flowers completes the job in around 10 minutes max!

Yep that’s it!

I still don’t know how I feel about them. They’re quite good for around the home but I don’t think I’ll be shopping in them any time soon 😉

All of this deep thinking about Australia’s export items makes me sleepy anyway….

What do you guys think?? Does your country have any exports which other countries think are cool when everyone at home thinks they’re a bit lame?

There are two variations with this because you can either just have one which ties over a skirt you have or you can do like I did and actually stitch it on.

You need:

• Tulle (the soft kind, not the hard netting)
• Ribbon
• Needle and thread
• Scissors
• Skirt for a base if you want one

Cut a piece of ribbon which is long enough to wrap around the skirt’s waist (or your own if you’re not going to use a base) and then tie into a cute bow.

Lay out the tulle and cut it into strips that are around 15cm wide and 2.5 times as long as your skirt. Cut out a heap of these strips.

Take the first strip folded in half like this over the ribbon.

Pull the ends of the tullearound the ribbon and through the folded part so they go through the loop. Pull it tight and the tulle should be like this with the ribbon running through the middle…

Repeat with all of the strips of tulle.

As you go you’ll see it forms a tutu with an interesting top area. If you pull the knots tight you can fit more tulle and make a fuller skirt. I didn’t have much tulle so I left them fairly loose.

Once you’re done it’s time to decide if you just want to tie it around your waist like this or if you want to actually attach it to the skirt. I decided to attach it to the skirt so I lined the ribbon up and found where the middle was.

Then I used a needle and thread to stitch them in place.

My skirt had a side zip so I made sure to leave a gap for that and stitch the ribbon either side of it. Then I tied the bow at the front.

So then what I had was this:

Obviously depending on the look you’re going for you could just leave the hanging parts uneven like this. I wanted a more traditional shape though so I snipped them evenly.

Done!

And here it is worn!

I love pink, white and black combination!

This is the kind of skirt which can be styled in pretty much any way, they look great with most styles.

What do you guys think? I need an excuse to wear it out now!