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It happens to me all the time, and I bet it happens to you, too.
You're wearing a cute new tshirt or polo, looking stylin', and suddenly food, grease, a beverage, or vomiting occurs. Your cute shirt turns from darlin' to dust rag in the blink of an eye. (I still don't understand how the simple combination of coffee+soy milk= indelible ink but let me assure you, it does.)
That your shirt can be saved. Well, altered. You can disguise the stain, and customize the look of the shirt to make it wearable for atleast one season more. Even if OxyClean, Tide and many tears don't remove the stain. My secret ingredients? SoftScrub and bubble wrap.
Look at this tshirt: It's a nice dark olive shirt from Target that had an encounter with something pink. There are also some subtle grease bubbles on it from when I used it to catch a chicken thigh that was falling off the grill. I treated the stains and ran it through the wash cycle without saving the shirt.
Enter magic.
The Supplies:
A cotton (or mainly cotton) shirt that is permanently stained.
A plastic plate, yogurt cup or meat-tray (washed).
A bottle of SoftScrub (or generic equivalent).
A foam brush or any scrap paint brush you have. You can even use a rag.
bubblewrap (I like the small bubbles best.. but use what you've got).
A brayer or rolling pin or your hands.
A little ph+ (for spa or pool) or anti-chlor for aquariums.
The Process:
Gloop (this a technical craft term. It means pour some thick liquid until it looks right) some softscrub onto the plate and pick it up with your foam brush. Casually brush the SoftScrub over the rough side of the bubble wrap. Do this quickly and don't be too concerned about coverage. This is after all just creating distracting texture on the work. It doesn't have to be perfect. (that would be too hard).
Place your t-shirt over the gloopy-painted bubblewrap. If your bubblewrap is smaller than your shirt, just do the shirt in sections. That's cool; it gives more texture.
Brayer, roll, or press the bubblewrap to make sure that contact is being made between the soft scrub and the shirt. You can press hard enough to break the bubbles. It's fun! Yes, you may scare the dogs or cats. (Sorry, Jake!) That adds to the fun!
Continue glooping soft scrub on the bubble wrap and more or less completely cover the shirt. Don't forget the other side.
Let the SoftScrub work it's magic for about 10-15 minutes. Since it's summertime, you might want to take it outside and watch the sun boost the bleaching power. When time is up, rinse the softscrub out.
Surprise! Most fabrics do not bleach out to a pure white color. There is no way to predict what color you will get, though usually it's a tan or beige. My olive shirt discharged out to a pretty pink.
For a final rinse, fill a sink with about a gallon of water and add about 1 tsp. of the Ph+ or anti-chlor. This will stop the bleach action from eventually eating through your shirt. Then wash, dry and wear your new unique shirt.
Some additional notes:
do not do this with a shirt that has any silk in it. Unless you want the silk devore look. (hmmm...). Bleach destroys silk.
Remember you are working with bleach. Be careful. Work in old clothes.
While I like the look of bubble wrap, you can use anything that will texture to the shirt: mesh fruit bags, strawberry baskets, scrunched up plastic bags, plastic needle canvas (especially the circular stuff!!), stencils. Be creative!
This project can be done with children as long as the parents supervise.
But what if you don't want an olive and pink t-shirt? Next month we'll take this shirt to the "next level": how to dye or paint over this texture to create a whole different look. Look for mine one day at BlogHer07!
Interested in trying this out with a little
