Tuesday, March 31, 2009

I'm stumped

I'm trying to be frugal (read "cheap").

I'm trying to be creative.

Hasn't anyone ever told you not to spill bleach on your clothing? It stains.

Right.

I'm in the process of sewing a skirt, and I wanted some white denim. Rather than paying $9.00/yard for three yards of fabric ($27.00 for a skirt? Unthinkable!), I had the idea to bleach ordinary denim and turn it white.

Correction; I wanted to bleach denim pieces that I cut out of old jeans. Now you know I'm cheap. *grin*

I washed those pieces TWO TIMES today, in the washing machine with bleach, and they haven't turned one shade lighter! The first time I used about 3/4 cup of bleach, but when I opened the washer door to see damp blue denim, I got determined, and the second time I think I poured about 1/2 a quart of bleach in there.

Still no change.

Now I'm stumped. What should I do - leave the pieces to soak in bleach, instead of washing them in it?

Maybe I should just accidentally spill some bleach on the denim.

4 comments:

Kristen Michelle said...

Okay, pardon me for laughing here. It's a brilliant idea, though. =) You are awesome. =D

MissNonaEleanor said...

Hello Amber! I'm a lurker and I had an idea that may help. Try some Rit Dye remover. I used it before, and I works wonders to remove dye and stains.

~Nona

Sandra said...

Maybe you should try soaking them in bleach... it may at least make them lighter if you do it long enough :)

Amber said...

Thanks, Althea. I can always count on you to make me laugh by telling me you're laughing at me. :) :)

Sandra, I have them soaking in bleach now - have had them in the bucket since 9:00 this morning, and guess what? They're starting to change color! Now I know how to create tye-dye (sp.?) fabric. Lovely blue and white streaks. :) Hopefully a longer soaking time will turn everything white.

Miss Nona Eleanor, welcome to my blog! Thank you so much for commenting; it thrills me to meet a lurker. :) If soaking doesn't work, I'll have to check out your Rit Dye remover idea. Thanks for the suggestion.