16 | DECEMBER 10 • 2020
H
oliday sweaters usu-
ally leave me feeling
left out as the only
one wearing blue instead
of the colors most other
co-workers and students
are wearing for Xmas. I do
own a store-bought sweater,
but a teacher friend of mine
was telling the story of how
her aunt made her a hid-
eous sweater complete with
golden gelt sewn in. It gave
me an inspirational spark.
How could I make a cool
Chanukah shirt?
I ordered some sweatshirts
from Brody’s and went to
work with my reverse tie dye.
Royal blue worked the best.
My kids and I sat and
thought of some ideas first.
We went with “Maccabi
Strong” for the little guy,
“Shine Bright” with a
Menorah for my oldest, and
my middle got different ways
to spell Chanukah with a
menorah on the back.
We did a prewash of the
shirts before starting.
DIRECTIONS
• Start by putting a piece of
cardboard inside the shirt
to prevent the bleach from
going through. Next, you
can use chalk to draw on
the shirt.
• Arrange a clean workspace
with a plastic cover. Now
you are ready to reverse
tie dye.
• I put a small amount of
the splash-less bleach in
a yogurt cup and dipped
my paintbrush to create
the design. Less is better,
since it can spread easi-
ly. Sometimes the reaction
happens right away, or it
may take a few minutes.
• If you don’t remember
what you covered, wait
for it to lighten before
you continue and you can
always go back and fix up
anything you don’t like.
• If you would like, with a
spray bottle, mix a 50/50
bleach and water mix-
ture. You can use this to
carefully add some drips
and design around the
edges. Be very careful,
since once you spray, it
will be there forever!
• Once your design is fin-
ished, you want to wait for
the bleach to remove as
much color as it can but
leave for no more than one
hour. The color it will turn
is based on the dye used
in the fabric. Some blues
will go totally white, but
others will have greys and
reds, etc.
• To stop the reaction and
reduce any spread of the
bleach, wash it fully in
cold water under running
water. Then transfer it
right into the washing
machine with an extra
rinse cycle. Dry normally
and wear to impress.
Brooke Leiberman of
Farmington Hills is a mom and
wife, educator and artist who
enjoys sharing her skills and
inspiring others to make art. She
runs the Ravitz Art Center at
Tamarack Camps and teaches
art at Dolsen Elementary in South
Lyon.
BROOKE LEIBERMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
MATERIALS
• Sweatshirt with
50% or more cotton
content
• Splash-less bleach
• Paintbrush
• Chalk
• Spray bottle
• Cardboard
DIY:
Not Your Ugly
Chanukah
Sweater
CHAUNAKAH
CRAFTS
PHOTOS BY BROOKE LEIBERMAN