Vi ODEll

I just made a lone star quilt for my grandson in red, white and blue fabrics. I would like to kind of antique it. Can I tea dye it? All of the fabrics were pre washed so I know they don't run. Any suggestions please

Ditter43

If the fabrics are all cotton, it should take the tea bath well.I think there are instructions somewhere on line for this. I have done it before, but I dyed the fabric before I cut it out.There are products available for tea dying or you can do it from scratch. Let us know how you decide to proceed and pictures please!!

Ditter

thimblebug6000

Good morning, just at the top of the forum is the search button, if you type in tea dye you'll find some other conversations about this and maybe get some more ideas.

Boston1954

It might be a good idea to take some of the scraps and do a test run.

Lisa_wanna_b_quilter

Tea dying is pretty easy, but I agree a test run is a good idea. It's much better to find out you don't like the look on a few scraps than a whole quilt.

amma

Be aware, if you have used starch, or anything else on the fabric, the tea dyeing may not come out the way you would like. If you used anything on the quilt, I would wash and rinse it first and then tea dye it :D:D:D

Pam

Someone in my guild did a programon tea dying, and she also did one with coffee. Just thought you would like to know

craftybear

let us know how it comes out, I would try it on a piece of fabric first a small swatch

Gal

I like the results from coffee rather than from tea, but I do both, I just save up all my old tea bags keeping them in the freezer, when I have enough I put them in a bucket of hot water, when I have a nice strong brew I put in fabric which has been washed and wet through,(do not put in dry fabric to the dye bath, this will result uneven patches) I give it all a good stir for a while and leave to soak over night, but a few hours is ok to. Rinse with 1/2 cup of white vinegar and a Tbl spoon of baking soda to set the dye, rinse till water runs clear. If a darker shade is required just keep repeating the process. I do this a lot to unify my small florals etc since I mostly use scraps and recycled fabrics this method helps to give a good allover design and is great for knocking back those colors which are too bright. Works best on 100% cotton fabrics and those which have white or pale colored threads, does not work so well on darker solid colours. It is great to experiment so try out on some scraps first!

Gal

littlehud

I have never tried coffee, but I'm going to now. I like the look of tea dying. Thanks for the hint.