Faded Flannel, a DIY

I have been watching Project Runway this season and no, I have not felt like reviewing it. That being said, I did notice one contestant's very interesting flannel shirt. Christopher Palu, one of the better designers in my opinion, has rocked this bleach faded red and while plaid flannel in a couple episodes. I am sure we will see it more but in the interim, I wanted to try it out for myself. You may recall my foray into bleaching denim (which I found to be quite fun) and this had to be the same thing, just strategically placing the bleach to create the desired effect.... and yes, I know this is a man's shirt.

via LifetimeTV.com

I started by hitting up my local Salvation Army. I currently didn't have a flannel worth experimenting with aaaaand I wanted something as similar to Christopher's as possible. I managed to find one pretty darn similar for $6.99, which was admittedly a little pricey by my SalVal standards (I know, cheapo). I had bleach left over from my denim project, as well as gloves and trash bags... so we were good to go. As far as bleaching this, I didn't have a plan but to try to have the fading work it's way up. I did my darndest with somewhat mixed results.

I worked for awhile with diluted bleach (so as to not eat through the fabric) and had a hard time getting the fading completely done. I was actually slightly disappointed with how this shirt came out. Apparently, some of the threading must be synthetic or bleach resistant because the red did not fade like I wanted it to. While there is a cool effect to the shirt, it doesnt achieve that of Chris's. Oh well, I still like it a lot aaaaand dude, it's super comfortable so that's a win-win.

What do you think? 

Warnings:

• Use caution with liquid bleach.
• Never mix bleach with ammonia or vinegar. These create a potentially lethal gas.
• Use precautionary measures to prevent accidental spills or stains.