I have never done it either, Vicky. I've heard of using tea and coffee to give an aged appearance, but never have. (Doesn't that mean you'd have to clean up and do dishes?)

SharonG/FL

I have tea dyed fabric, but haven't used "real" dye yet.

I bought a kit at a quilt show but havne't used it yet! I do want to try it but don't seem to find the time for it. I would love to try to coloring crayons for fabric too.

Kate

I have tea or coffee dyed small amounts for a wall hanging. I just put it in the kitchen sink.That was a long time ago,,,dont even know what I made now,

I have tea dyed fabric to age it. When the girls were in Girl Scouts we dyed fabric for projects and badges, but I have never done large pieces for quilting. Just not something I enjoy, especially when there are such great batik's out there.

beverly

I have taken a fabri dye class and tea dyed but not Koolaid. It is a lot of fun, very messy, you must be very careful of our counters, floors,etc.

We did 10 different methods, some turned out some didn't. I remember I had so much fushia pink! I redyed some of those pieces. We used muslin in 1 yd lengths...I thought that was a bit much for a 40% success rate. We used gallon pickle jars to make our solution in. If I did it again I would get yardage that was treated for dying because you don't get that nice sheen with muslin. The rinsing was a big chore. It took us all the next day to rinse the 10 yds. but really a lot of fun.
Jean

I've also done some tea dying for a wall hanging, but not anything else. I'm so glad you are posting these daily questions Vicky. The Forum has been so quiet lately.

Yes, I have dyed a bit. I love it. I use muslin and like that weave for applique. I like the ability to create the colors I want. But, I do quarter and half yard sizes in a zip lock bag and nothing very messy. I rinse in the laundry sink and throw them in wash machine with color catchers. My "Monster quilt" was all done with my hand dyes including borders. There are some good books out for anyone who wants to try it. Dharma Trading is good dye vendor.

I tea-dyed a satin purse. I needed a small off-white/beige purse as a base for a long beaded fringe. The only purses in the right size/shape that I could find were white satin. I was matching colors for a tea gown I was wearing to an ARS function.

This little purse was perfect, and it even had a full-length nylon fringe all the way around that would add swing and fullness to the seed bead and crystal strands I was using.

I made a strong tea solution, let it cool to "warm" and dunked the purse in, fringe, strap, and all. I was afraid the purse would lose its shape, but it didn't. I left it in the tea for about 30 seconds, just long enough to be thoroughly soaked. I lifted it up carefully and set it in a bowl of clear warm water and slowly moved it around to "rinse" the tea out. After sitting about a minute, I repeated the process in a second bowl of clear water.

I held it up until some of the water had dripped off, laid it flat on a towel with a washcloth to help hold the shape inside. Once it was dried it was the perfect color.

After 10 years, I still love this purse.

I have done a little tea dying when I made dolls. I also took a fabric reactive dying class using the Procion dyes and we put the fabric and dyes into plastic bags as toolgranny discribed. I have a bin with the fabrics. I find it is important to use Retayne to set the dyes as even with lots of rinsing they can still bleed. I have color catches but have never used them. They apparently work. I do have the PFD cotton that I bought from Hancock of Paducah. I like the way that works. Jayne

I haven't dyed fabric, but I am interested in the process. I'd particularly like to dye gradations of a particular color. Tea and coffee dying don't really appeal to me.

Ah, well, maybe someday I'll get the gumption.

Years ago, I dyed some handkerchiefs using onion skins. They made a beautiful soft yellow. The instructions had you boil the fabric first in a solution containing alum, but unfortunately I don't remember the proportion of alum to water or the length of time I boiled the fabric. However, the boiling was to make the dye take well.