How to Do Bleach Stenciling of a Skeleton

Transform cotton-based items with stencil bleaching.

You can add skeleton designs to any piece of cotton or cotton-blend item using stencils and bleach. Depending on the actual composition of the fabric and its color, the bleach will turn the fabric inside the stencil white, gray, yellow or orange. Use this technique on a wide variety of items, including clothes, hats, bags and pillows.

Things You'll Need

• Board or table
• Old clothing or plastic garbage bags
• Skeleton stencil
• Masking tape
• Bleach pen

Instructions

1. Set up a table or board in an area with good ventilation to create a workspace. Make sure you are away from carpet, curtains and furniture, as bleach stains fabric. Change into old clothing that you don’t mind ruining. Alternatively, you can cover your clothes with large garbage bags.

2. Lay your cotton or cotton-blend item flat on your work surface.

3. Lay your skeleton stencil on your item in the desired location and tape it in place with masking tape.

4. Trace along the inside edges of the skeleton stencil with a bleach pen. By focusing on the edges first, your design will look clean and professional.

5. Draw over the remaining fabric inside of the stencil with a bleach pen, covering all spots.

6. Set the item aside until you've achieved a color that you are happy with, then remove the stencil and wash the item immediately. Don’t leave the bleach on overnight or you may wake up to holes in it.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don’t want to use a bleach pen, you can pour standard bleach in a bowl and paint it over your stencil with a paint brush.

• You can speed up the bleaching process by blowing hot air over the bleached fabric with a hair dryer.

References

• What the Craft: No Sew Embellishing -- Bleach!