I've seen some stunning works done on plain black fabric, with a paint brush and gel bleach. Funnily enough, over here it's a toilet bleach that works best, it's a nice thick gel that doesn't "bleed" into other areas, it stays where it's put with a fine paintbrush.
The fabric is washed afterwards, so the bleach shouldn't weaken the fabric, it only strips the colour and is then removed.
:-)