A thin layer of light-sensitive dye applied inside masked-off lines on a blank tote bag turns dark blue, revealing lighter areas where images of swimsuits were laid. Pretreated, light-sensitive fabric, exposed with a paper cutout of sunglasses, is sewn into the drawstring-closure sunglasses case.

What You Need

• 1″-wide painters tape 
• Blank canvas tote bag (ours measures 12 x 13 1/2″ without handles)
• Copyright-free swimsuit clip art from the Internet 
• Lumi Inkodye UV fabric printing kit: Inkofilm ink-jet-printable film, Inkodye Snap Pack sunreactive printing dye in blue, Inkowash detergent 
• Ruler
• Gold paint pen

Step 1

Using painters tape, mask off four 3 1/2 x 3 3/4″ rectangles in the center of one side of the canvas tote bag.

Step 2

Download copyright-free swimsuit clip art to your computer. Resize the images to about 2 x 3″ and convert the images to black-and-white or grayscale. Following manufacturer’s instructions, print the images onto ink-jet-printable film. Cut out the shapes.

Step 3

Following manufacturer’s directions and working indoors, spread a thin layer of sunreactive printing dye inside each taped off rectangle on the tote bag. Use a paper towel to blot off excess dye from the tote bag if needed.

Step 4

Lay swimsuit shapes on tote bag, inside each taped off rectangle.

Step 5

Lay tote bag in direct sunlight outdoors for 5–10 minutes. Bring bag indoors, and remove swimsuit shapes.

Step 6

Following detergent manufacturer’s instructions, wash tote bag to set the design. Dry the bag on low setting in the dryer; press with a warm iron if needed.

Step 7

Using a ruler and gold paint pen, draw a frame around the edges of each rectangle of the printed design.