{DIY: Bleached Tribal Shorts}

              

Hey Bloggers!
Lately, I have been extremely productive! I have finally started making my YouTube videos (check 'em out at http://www.youtube.com/user/mckennakiam?feature=results_main), constantly starting new DIY projects, and blogging everyday!

 It must be the nice weather, lazy summer days, and the smell of suntan lotion! :)

On top of finishing my tea-dyed skirt, I made these fabulous shorts after seeing a similar photo on Pinterest. I've been really obsessed with the tribal print trend for summer, and I thought it was time to add some to my summer closet!

They're bleached, Sharpie-d, and frayed. And I am absolutely IN LOVE.

I explained how I made down below. :)

The jean shorts I actually began with were a pair of A.N.A. jeans my mom picked up at a yard sale one summer, but they were soon handed down to me to work my magic. :)

I made them into a pair of cut-offs, frayed the edges, and added a couple of decorative stitches. I actually wore them a lot at the beginning of the summer, but after I saw a picture of these types of shorts, I knew exactly which ones I was going to use.

I started by bleaching them almost all the way up. I soaked them in a half-bleach-half-cold-water  mixture for about two hours. This may seem like a ton of bleach, but in order to get them completely white, you need that much!

After they were completely white (the longer you keep them in the mixture, the less blue-jean they're going to look), I picked them out while wearing ugly rubber gloves and rung them out to get most of the bleach solution out.

On most websites who show this DIY, they state that if you let the shorts air dry they bleach smell will go with the dampness. However after about 24 hours of drying, the shorts still reeked of bleach, so I threw them into the washer and dried them after.

Last but not least, I added a cute tribal pattern with a black Sharpie; I looked at many different tribal patterns until I just decided to wing it :) and I love the turn out! After I was done with the Sharpie pattern, I ironed them to ensure the ink would solidify into the material. However, you can apply almost any type of heat to the material, such as the dryer or direct sunlight, and it will work just the same. :)

Enjoy my DIY Goddesses! <3

see ya tomorrow,

mckenna k. xx