Ideas ... they do not always come in a flash but by diligent trial and error.
Experiments take time and thought and an awful lot of fun!
As a regular reader you will know that I did some detailed blogs over a year ago on natural hand
dyeing and all the plants and fruit that you can use. This time of year soft fruits are very expensive and so herbal teas are perfect and cheaper. Just boil a kettle and pop a bag into a bowl, pour over the water and stir it about for a couple of seconds. Then try a bit of fabric in there to see what colour it becomes. You can keep putting the tea bag back in if you feel you need a darker colour, you can add but not so easy to take away. You can tip some away and just add more water if it is too dark.
dyeing and all the plants and fruit that you can use. This time of year soft fruits are very expensive and so herbal teas are perfect and cheaper. Just boil a kettle and pop a bag into a bowl, pour over the water and stir it about for a couple of seconds. Then try a bit of fabric in there to see what colour it becomes. You can keep putting the tea bag back in if you feel you need a darker colour, you can add but not so easy to take away. You can tip some away and just add more water if it is too dark.
So after putting different herbal tea bags in water and letting the colour get to where I thought it
might be right for the job I then soaked four small pieces of vintage linen in the different teas. The results where fabulous. I have shown you here the four pieces plus a fifth piece at the bottom with no tea dye at all so you can see the differences that I have achieved....
The top left piece I put in a apple and spice. The top right in the Blackcurrant and vanilla. The second row on the left was cinnamon tea and the last one on the second row on the right was ginger tea .... very similar to the cinnamon but there is a difference that I just could not capture for you with the photo..... The days are so dull here and it is grey light I am afraid. When I tried with the light on it really was not good at all.
You can see though what can be achieved and I am going to dye a batch in the cinnamon for my border and I think it will work really well.
Why not give it a go yourself and believe me the kitchen smells wonderful!
Happy Stitching!
If you soak the fabric in a soya milk solution - 1 s milk to 3 water - for 24 hours and then let it dry the colours will take better and be more long lasting.
ReplyDeleteThank you Maureen that is great! Thank you for sharing with us all!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! I'm not a tea drinker but I shall buy some especially to try this! Will the colours be fast???
ReplyDeleteGill
DeleteHerbal tea isn't actually tea as in earl grey etc.
I do nothing but rinse and iron mine because it goes on work that I do not wash like clothes.
Salt helps colours stay though and it helps to wet your fabric first.
Maureen above comment suggests a soya milk solution which would be kinder to fabric ..
Good luck and it's lots of fun!
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