I was inspired by a blog post to try my hand at some custom galaxy clothes.

Mostly I wanted space pants but figured we could do some other clothes (shirts and whatnot) as well. I invited some folks over to bring their own clothing for galax-i-fying.

Due to it being approximately 10,000 degrees outside, we put some drop cloths down and did the crafting in the dining area.

Step 1: What You'll Need

Black clothing of some flavor

A spray bottle (97 cents at target!)

3-4 colors of fabric paint ($1-2 each), we chose blue, purple, and red - I would suggest also picking up some white

Glow in the dark fabric paint ($2)

Small bottle of bleach ($3)

A throwaway toothbrush

A couple of sponges (less holey the better, based on our lessons learned)

Newspapers/drop cloths/plastic bags

Total cost to us was $16

Step 2: Background

Put down some newspaper or drop cloths and fill the spray bottle with about 1/2 bleach, half water.

Spray the front of the clothing with bleach. Do not spray all over (I did this first) as it just kind doesn't look quite right. Spray in a line or v shape with areas of concentration (not too many) so it seems more like space and less like 1995.

Step 3: Add Paint Colors

Sponge on paint. I went darkest color first (blue, then purple, then red) but I think that was a little bit of a mistake. Or rather, the blue should concentrate around the areas of bleach, then add some purple accents and use the red sparingly. I also think adding white would have made us a touch more successful.

Revised for next time would be -

Blue

white to brighten areas and make it look less paint-y

then purple

teeny red areas

I am really interested to gather some improvements here in the comments so we can pin down best practices.

Step 4: Add Stars

Dip toothbrush in glow paint paint and flick on to shirt.

Revised due to lessons learned:

Dot a few bigger stars, then flick. Use both white paint and glow in the dark paint as the glow paint dries and doesn't show up as well.

Step 5: Enjoy And/or Despair

There were two of our things that turned out pretty well but my main project, the pants just look like I got paint on them. They don't even really look inspired by space. As you may be able to tell from the picture, they were also REMARKABLY resistant to bleach. I used a half water half bleach solution for everything else that worked fine but not the jeans. I upped it to 2 parts bleach, 1 part water and still nothing. Finally, I sponged straight bleach onto the pants. Nothing. So they just look crappy. I plan to wash in hot water and strip away (hopefully) some of the paint to try these ones again.

The fabric paint should hold up pretty okay in the other items, I'll let you know how a cold water cycle treats them.