As promised, today marks part two of our DIY Fall Fashion series! Below are some instructions on how you can create your dip-dyed t-shirt. Be sure to let us know how your pair turns out in the comments section and feel free to link to a picture of your results!

Materials:

• Clorox^® Regular Bleach


• 3% hydrogen peroxide (2 quarts)


• 3 plastic dishpans (12 quart size)


• Plastic hanger


• Measuring cups


• Plastic gloves


• Old, white, full-size towels

1. Set up two dishpans on the side of a sink; put a third dishpan in the sink.

2. In the first dishpan, add 1 1/2 cups Clorox^® Regular-Bleach to 1 gallon of water; stir with a plastic spoon.

3. In the second dishpan, pour in 2 quarts hydrogen peroxide.

4. Rinse the entire tee-shirt in plain water and squeeze excess moisture out so the shirt is slightly damp.

5. Put on your gloves and put the tee-shirt on the hanger.

6. Immerse the bottom portion of the tee-shirt (the part you want to lighten) into the bleach solution (first dishpan).

7. Keeping the tee on the hanger, lift the shirt out of the bleach solution.

8. Watch the shirt carefully—when the bottom looks lighter than the top half (and you are satisfied with the difference in color) drop the entire shirt into the peroxide to stop the bleaching action. (Note that depending on the color of the shirt, results may vary.)

9. Rinse the shirt very thoroughly in cool water in the third dishpan in the sink.

10. Squeeze excess moisture out into the towels, and air dry.

The hot trend in denim this fall is polka dots! But why spend hundreds of dollars on designer jeans when it is so simple to make your own with a pair you already own? Below are some instructions on how you can create your own pair of designer-inspired jeans for a fraction of the price and just a bit of effort. Be sure to let us know how your pair turns out in the comments section and feel free to link to a picture of your results!

Materials:

• Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel (1 to 2)


• 3% hydrogen peroxide (1 quart)


• Paper towels


• Plastic Spoons


• Timer


• Old, white, full-size towels

DIY Polka Dot Jeans Directions:

1. Line the inside of the jeans with plastic (such as a cut open plastic shopping bag) to protect the gel from bleeding through from one side to the other.


2. Shake the Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel with the cap on.


3. Begin applying the gel: using the fine point tip, gently squeeze out a 1/4 inch dot.


4. Continue applying gel dots in a polka dot pattern, working in one direction (such as waist to hem) with the dots you have already applied always away from you.


5. Allow the dots to sit for 2 hours.


6. Keeping the jeans flat on the counter/work surface, gently remove the plastic liners from inside the pant legs.


7. Pour 3% hydrogen peroxide directly onto each of the dots, allowing it to soak into the fabric. This stops the bleaching action, and prevents any gel from lightening other parts of the blue jeans during rinsing.


8. When all the dots have hydrogen peroxide on them, slide them into the sink a little at a time, scraping and rinsing away the gel dots as you go with warm water.


9. Squeeze the pants dry using old towels.


10. Air dry the jeans completely before repeating the treatment on the other side of the jeans.


11. After rinsing the second round of gel polka dots, run the jeans through a gentle cycle using cool water and a little detergent.

Be sure to stick around for next week’s second part of our DIY Fall Fashion series…

I got pen ink on my shirt. What can I do to treat it? Should I try Clorox bleach on it? Or is there some other method I can try?

I have a two-step process for dealing with ink stains that I hope will help you, but first you need to determine the colorfastness of the shirt. Many colored dress shirts can be safely bleached; do a quick bleachability test to be sure. Mix 2 tsp. Clorox^® Regular-Bleach in ¼ cup water, apply a drop to a hidden area (hem, inside cuff) and blot dry. No color change means the shirt can be safely bleached, and you would treat the stain as follows:

Apply alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the stain and let it soak in for a few minutes.

1. Wash in the hottest water allowed (check the care label) with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox Regular-Bleach. Allow the shirt to air dry and check for success.

If the shirt doesn’t pass the bleachability test, then you can use Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster:

1. Apply alcohol-based hand sanitizer to the stain and let it soak in for a few minutes.


2. Apply Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain, wait five minutes, then wash in the hottest water allowed with detergent + Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster. Allow the shirt to air dry and check for success.

The biggest problem with a stain like this is that the ink is super concentrated and may require multiple treatments to get the stain out. Just be sure to continue to air dry the shirt in between treatments until you achieve success.

I can’t seem to keep my son’s socks clean. I use Clorox bleach, but it still doesn’t get them clean. Any ideas what else I can do?

Socks can be quite a problem (my son's socks are pretty challenging, too), and I do have some suggestions for you to try.

1. Be sure you are washing in hot water and using ¾ of a cup of Clorox^® bleach in each load.

2. Pre-soak the socks for 5 minutes in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach diluted in 1 gallon cool water. Then wash in hot water with detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach.

3. Pre-treat the socks using Clorox^® Ultimate Care Bleach: This product is a thickened bleach product with a lower hypochlorite active level so it is safe to apply directly to bleachable fabric (something you should NEVER do with undiluted bleach!) It works exceptionally well on socks. I like to work with it in a dish pan—I lay the socks out, apply a small amount to saturate the stains, and then I transfer the treated items right into the washer from the dish pan. Then wash immediately in hot water and detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach.

I like using the dish pan because I don’t accidentally leave any spilled product around, and I can just stack the socks on top of each other as I treat them. Be sure to rinse out the dish pan when you are finished. Hopefully this will do the trick!

My baby started eating food and his clothes have some food stains, how do I remove them?

Baby food stains really benefit from pre-treating, but first be sure to scrape away excess stain (think pureed vegetable globs like sweet potatoes), and then rinse the stain with a little cool water. Be careful not to rub the stain further into the fabric. I am sure you have both white and colored items to clean, so here are some good techniques for both:

If the item is white:

• Rub stain gently with Clorox^® Bleach Pen^® Gel immediately before laundering.


• Wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach.

If the item is colored (or made from a fiber on the do not bleach list):

• Apply Clorox2^® Stain Fighter & Color Booster directly to the stain, and rub in.


• Wait 3-5 minutes, but don’t let it dry on the fabric.

Wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label using detergent and Clorox2^®.

After washing, air dry the items and check for success. This is a general technique that I always advise. Stubborn stains that are partially removed can often be treated again, and you increase your chance of eventual success if you don’t heat-set any residual stain in a hot dryer.

I washed a white sweater with blue letters with darks and now it is a dingy white. How can I get it back to a bright white without discoloring the blue letters?

Normally a bleach soaking solution (1/4 cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach bleach per gallon of water, with a soak time of up to 5 minutes) will strip away dye transfer from fabrics that can be safely bleached--note that you should always avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, leather, and spandex. The big challenge on your garment is the blue lettering, which is likely highly visible without any hidden areas. This makes it difficult to test to see if the blue letters could survive the bleach soak without risking a white spot if the fabric fails. Here’s the test for bleachability: Add 2 teaspoons Clorox Regular-Bleach to 1/4 cup water. Apply a drop of this solution to a hidden part of the item and wait 1 minute, then blot dry with a paper towel. No color change means the item can be safely bleached.

I put straight Clorox^® Regular-Bleach on white jeans and now I have a yellow stain.  How do I remove the bleach stain?

No matter what you are using bleach for, it should always be diluted and never used directly on a surface or fabric. Unfortunately you have first-hand experience with why we never recommend treating fabric with undiluted bleach. I wish I had better news, but instead of the yellow being a “stain” that can be removed, it is a permanent shift in the color of the white fabric (sort of the reverse of when undiluted bleach leaves a light spot on a colored item) and cannot be reversed.

Next time, be sure to wash the fabric in your washer with detergent and 3/4 cup bleach. You can also try soaking in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach added to 1 gallon cool water for up to 5 minutes, then rinse the slacks thoroughly. Air dry and check for success

It doesn’t matter whether a crayon melted in the pocket of a sweatshirt left in the hot car or accidentally went through a hot dryer—you have quite a problem to deal with. Crayons have a waxy component that doesn't break up in a detergent and water solution--that's why these stains are such a pain. Below are some tips for getting out wax stains which should hopefully help you:

1.  Scrape away as much of the wax as possible with a dull knife.

2.  Cut open a brown paper grocery (light weight) or lunch bag. Be sure the bag does NOT have any wax coating on it!

3.  Place the bag over the wax spot, and then gently press with a dry iron on its lowest setting.  You should see dark brown splotches appear on the bag as the wax is absorbed.

4.  Reposition a fresh part of the bag over the wax spot and gently press again with the iron. Repeat until no more wax absorbs onto the bag.

5.  Finally, pretreat any remaining stain before washing.  For white items, apply Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel directly to the stain and rub in, and then wash immediately in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent + ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. For colored items (or white items that contain spandex) apply Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster directly to the stain. Wait 5 minutes, and then wash in the hottest water recommended on the care label with detergent and more Clorox2^®.  Air dry and check for success—repeat if necessary.

A few more thoughts on wax removal:  brown paper bags are nice to work with here because it is very easy to see the wax absorb onto the bag. It’s also important to work with the iron on its lowest heat setting so you don’t melt the wax too quickly and cause it to absorb into the fabric, or melt the fabric if it is synthetic. You can check your progress and possibly increase the temperature depending on how hot your iron is--they do vary.

Happy Labor Day! It’s bittersweet to see summer coming to an end, but with fall comes hayrides, apple cider, and plenty of holidays to celebrate. I hope everyone was able to celebrate and enjoy a relaxing holiday.

Last week, I provided some tips on how to treat your summer whites before putting them away for the season. Today, I have some instructions on what you can do if you accidentally get dye from another laundry item on bleachable clothing.

You should be able to restore the item that picked up the color with a bleach soaking solution as long as the item is safely bleachable. Even though they are white, you still need to check the care label--don’t use the bleach soaking solution if the clothing contains even a small amount of spandex. You should also avoid bleaching wool, silk, mohair, and leather--these should also never be bleached.

If the clothing is bleachable, then you can proceed with a bleach soak. Fully submerge the slacks in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach added to 1 gallon cool water for up to 5 minutes, then rinse the slacks thoroughly. Air dry and check for success (it’s important to keep the slacks out of the dryer so the heat doesn’t set any remaining dye if it wasn’t removed). Hopefully the fugitive color will be gone, but if it is lighter, then repeat the bleach soak again. However, if the bleach soak leaves the dye transfer color unchanged, you may need to try RIT Color Remover, which can usually be found at drug and hardware stores.

On Monday, I gave some tips on how to store your summer apparel to ensure they are ready to wear next Memorial Day. Today, I wanted to provide some extra tips on how to best whiten a pair of white pants or denim. After three months of use, this popular style may have started to look a bit less crisp than at the start of summer. With some quick care tips, you can change this so they are ready for next year!

First, one final wash before storage is always a good idea—be sure to pretreat any stains before washing so you don’t have surprises next spring! Start by checking the label to see if an item includes any spandex. 100% cotton items and polyester-cotton blends can be pretreated with Clorox^® Bleach Pen Gel—rub a little of the gel into the stain with the soft scrubber tip and then wash the item immediately in hot water using detergent and ¾ cup Clorox^® Regular-Bleach. For white cotton and polyester-cotton blend items that also include spandex, you can pretreat stains with Clorox2^® Stain Fighter and Color Booster:  apply a little directly to the stain and rub in. Wait 5-10 minutes (set a timer—never leave full strength Clorox2^® on fabric for longer than the recommended time, and never let it dry out on fabric!) and then wash in hot water using detergent and additional Clorox2^®. Air dry any items that had stains that you pretreated. Now you are ready to pack them away!