Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Tie-Dye on a Tuesday Afternoon

Now that it's finally feeling like spring, I can enjoy the great outdoors during this short sweet spot before it gets too hot, or the cicadas return, or the pollen count gets out of control.   It means I can relocate certain craft projects out of the basement and outside.  And this is especially ideal for said projects that involve working with materials that are best used in a well-ventilated area...like bleach!  


Recently I broke out the bleach to tie-dye and otherwise experiment with a few things.  My favorite transformed piece from the afternoon was a top I got in China a few years ago.  Last fall I wrote about collecting all kinds of souvenir t-shirts but this one is different!  


It's more like a traditional Chinese top than any old standard screen-printed t-shirt with a landmark on it...  I admired it on the lady (above) leading our boat tour and  then I found my own 'authentic' fat 'tourist-sized' version in a street market a few days later.  I bought two; one for my mom and one for me.  Of course, my mom has never actually worn hers so I experimented on that.


And it turned out great!  The material took to the bleach really well and I love the effect I was able to get!    The top was cool before, but now it's one of a kind!  This one is going to the shop since it doesn't fit me (and my mom doesn't wear it...) so I'm hoping I can get a similar effect with the one I bought for myself.  Here's how I've styled them:


I like buttoning this top different ways so it drapes differently and to get a cowl-neck effect:


It's many tops in one!  I've seen blue and white or patterned indigo pieces in a few places this season.  I love this jacket from J.Crew (below, left) and this one from Plentiful Jenn on etsy (below, right):


I'll share pics when I get around to bleach-dying the other one!  (Hopefully, it's before my window of perfect-conditions-for-working-outside closes!)

     

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