(no subject)
okay, so obviously i was bored this weekend, being trapped studying at home & not getting to spend easter with my family. so i went on a mission to transform an old pair of jeans into a balmain ss09 inspired pair of bleached/torn ones :)
okay so i threw on some sexy rubber gloves, cracked the bathroom window open & got my javex ready by pouring some from the big ol' jug into the empty spray & wash bottle (which i have to remember to empty & toss so that one of my roommates doesn't accidentally bleach some of their clothes while trying to stain remove!)
hot.
so then ummm here's the original state of my jeans:
they're TINY. like, they make my legs feel like encased sausages & the length of the inseam is SERIOUSLY 25". they're simply black jeans with a slightly ugly grey wash on the front & back of the thighs, which wasn't even flattering. so yeah, no losses if the whole experiment failed. haha
then, you just take them & soak them with water.
which you obviously needed a picture of? haha. unnecessary.
okay, then i had at them with the bleach, spraying in random places while they were in the bathtub.
now, the reason you soak them first is so that you don't get the 'defined' spray effect. which is what i got when i did it to a black v-neck i had:
(oh god, i look so boyish in this pic)
anyways, i wanted more of a 'spread-out' bleaching than the above so i soaked them, which essentially is supposed to make the bleach spread/bleed a bit.
after about an hour in the tub, when i started seeing lightening, i threw them in the washing machine alone & dryer-ed them as well.
the effect i got was just a completely general lightening. they were just slightly lighter all over, with the exception of ONE spot, on the fly that was lighter because the bleach must have pooled a bit. at this point i tore up the knees with scissors & a cheesegrater but i really wasn't satisfied with the bleaching...
the good thing about bleaching is that you can always just go back to lighten a bit more, so i decided this time to skip the soaking in water & just spray with bleach.
my 'spraying style' was just to spray HUGE blobs and then let the bleach spread out. then spray another huge blob until that blob would meet the next bleeding blob. does that make sense?
so after a couple hours of soaking in ONLY bleach:
(yeah, they're sitting straight on the hardwood floor. whatever. it's already damaged anyways?)
maybe every hour, i'd add more bleach sprays.... and after another 2 hours or so:
lighter :)
(i felt bad so i put some plastic bags under them, hahah)
at this point i decided to wash them, knowing that they'd be even lighter than they currently looked.. and they definitely lightened a LOT after washing them! (i think it's cause a lot of the dark dye just bleeds away from the bleach spots & sits there until you actually wash them)
so yeah! the denim is definitely 'weaker' after about 5 hours sitting in bleach, but that's a good thing in my mind because it makes for way comfier jeans! they fit slightly more loosely now and are much softer as well. needless to say, the knees are easier to tear now & unfortunately when i've been bending my knees, the tears have been slowly ripping larger. hahaha.
the results :)
anyways, you guys should give it a try if you're into it! super easy & lots of fun!
okay so i threw on some sexy rubber gloves, cracked the bathroom window open & got my javex ready by pouring some from the big ol' jug into the empty spray & wash bottle (which i have to remember to empty & toss so that one of my roommates doesn't accidentally bleach some of their clothes while trying to stain remove!)
hot.
so then ummm here's the original state of my jeans:
they're TINY. like, they make my legs feel like encased sausages & the length of the inseam is SERIOUSLY 25". they're simply black jeans with a slightly ugly grey wash on the front & back of the thighs, which wasn't even flattering. so yeah, no losses if the whole experiment failed. haha
then, you just take them & soak them with water.
which you obviously needed a picture of? haha. unnecessary.
okay, then i had at them with the bleach, spraying in random places while they were in the bathtub.
now, the reason you soak them first is so that you don't get the 'defined' spray effect. which is what i got when i did it to a black v-neck i had:
(oh god, i look so boyish in this pic)
anyways, i wanted more of a 'spread-out' bleaching than the above so i soaked them, which essentially is supposed to make the bleach spread/bleed a bit.
after about an hour in the tub, when i started seeing lightening, i threw them in the washing machine alone & dryer-ed them as well.
the effect i got was just a completely general lightening. they were just slightly lighter all over, with the exception of ONE spot, on the fly that was lighter because the bleach must have pooled a bit. at this point i tore up the knees with scissors & a cheesegrater but i really wasn't satisfied with the bleaching...
the good thing about bleaching is that you can always just go back to lighten a bit more, so i decided this time to skip the soaking in water & just spray with bleach.
my 'spraying style' was just to spray HUGE blobs and then let the bleach spread out. then spray another huge blob until that blob would meet the next bleeding blob. does that make sense?
so after a couple hours of soaking in ONLY bleach:
(yeah, they're sitting straight on the hardwood floor. whatever. it's already damaged anyways?)
maybe every hour, i'd add more bleach sprays.... and after another 2 hours or so:
lighter :)
(i felt bad so i put some plastic bags under them, hahah)
at this point i decided to wash them, knowing that they'd be even lighter than they currently looked.. and they definitely lightened a LOT after washing them! (i think it's cause a lot of the dark dye just bleeds away from the bleach spots & sits there until you actually wash them)
so yeah! the denim is definitely 'weaker' after about 5 hours sitting in bleach, but that's a good thing in my mind because it makes for way comfier jeans! they fit slightly more loosely now and are much softer as well. needless to say, the knees are easier to tear now & unfortunately when i've been bending my knees, the tears have been slowly ripping larger. hahaha.
the results :)
anyways, you guys should give it a try if you're into it! super easy & lots of fun!