newbee3

I have bright white fabric and I would like to tone it done has anyone done dying fabric with tea or coffee and if so how does it work??

amazon

I have dyed white fabric with tea. Wet your fabric first. I used about 12 bags in a quart of water and steeped it about 15 min. then added it the smallest load in my washer with the hottest water . Then add wet fabric , agitate about 5 mins. then I let it set about 30 mins. agitating twice. Then allow it to finish its cycle. Check for uniform color, then dry.

ckcowl

coffee and some nuts will work the same way as described for tea above. i do tend to let it (steep) longer than 15 minutes and i let mine dry-cure before heat setting and rinsing but how ever you do it it works...time to experiment a bit. different strengths; you want some agitation to help with even=ness, or you may wind up with a mottled fabric. start with a couple fq's and see if you want to really darken your fabric or just take the glare off.

grann of 6

I haven't used coffee but used tea on my lace tablecloth. By the time I got it finished, I could see that some parts of the lace were a different shade of ecru than others, so I wetted it well, then soaked it in tepid tea solution and let it soak for a while, rinsed it some, let it dry, and redid it a couple times till I got the color I wanted. It came out beautifully.

jemma

aggitate is the answer to get it even---i re dipped to get a stronger colour

Dandish

This is interesting. So after it's soaked and dyed to the depth you want, how do you heat set it? Does it wash out with the eventual washings of the finished piece or is it permanent? I've heard that this makes the piece look aged or antiqued -

grann of 6

Heat set it by ironing it well. A hot dryer helps some, but the ironing is really the crucial part. You may lose a little of the color after many washings, but if you rinse well till the water runs clear you shouldn't lose much color.

salmonsweet

For purely "ageing" fabric (rather turning it beige or brown), I put six teabags in a teapot, fill with boiling water and let steep for 10 minutes. Then I pour the tea off into a bucket of water. I put my fabric in and swish it around a few times over the next 3-5 minutes. That's it. :)

Stronger tea (more bags, less water added, longer steeping, leaving the fabric in for longer) will give you beiges or browns. A friend of mine made a patchwork quilt entirely from fabrics stained different shades of tea.

No heat setting required, tea stains are permanent. I do wash my tea-stained fabric once before using it because a bit of the color tends to come out in the first wash.

asmmauer

my daughter did some dying in an art class they used black walnut shells in hot water and soaked fabric for awhile.

greensleeves

I have tea dyed fabrics with a bright white background that I wanted toned down. Tones down the prints too which gives the "new" fabric an aged look. Used similar methods to those mentioned above.