You know how tea can stain teeth? Undesirable, right? But take that same staining ability and apply it to plain-jane white table linens and you have yourself a real gem. Just check out these examples:
The key when tea-staining is to apply it to fabrics with all-natural fibers (like cotton or linen) and to agitate often when soaking in the tea bath (to avoid crease-marks). Also, try adding a little vinegar to the bath to help set the stain.
Have you ever tea-stained something (on purpose)? Tell us about it below!
Related: Tea Towels as Curtains: Bright and Simple
(Images: 1. Rikkianne Van Kirk | Apartment Therapy; 2. Faces Are Funny; 3. Everyday Beauty)
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I used to tea stain nearly all of my cross stitch fabric before working the fabric so that I could have a country-look.
Onion Skins will produce a mild clear yellow stain.
Tumeric will produce a dark yellow to mustard colored stain.
Saffron will give a bright yellow stain
Chili Powder will produce an orangey red stain.
Beets will produce a bright purple-pink stain.
Paprika will produce a burnt brick color stain.
Red or Purple Cabbage will produce a pink to magenta stain.
Coffee will produce a khaki to dark brown stain.
Spinach will produce a light green to molty green stain.
Most berries will stain in like color to the fruit. (You can buy pureed berry juice and use that if you don't want to have to deal with the seeds.)
Chestnut shells will make a maroon color stain.
You can also use citrus fruit peels to achieve subtle like-color dyes.
Really, get crazy and have fun!
Using salt will set the dye. Vinegar will also set the dyes but it changes the color slightly.
I use to buy inexpensive printed fabrics on closeouts and dye it using something from the kitchen. Sometimes I would use the dyed fabric to make clothing but more often it was to make curtains, shams, placemats/napkins/tableclothes. You can even take a square of dyed fabric and drape it over a lamp shade to mellow a bright light or you can glue it to the lamp shade just for a variation in color. I still use coffee to keep khakis looking good for as long as possible. As a matter of fact, I still use this method from time to time. Like when I accidentally put bleech in the washer with my gray table cloth and turned it putrid pink. I treated that and all the matching napkins to a kitchen dye. Now I more often use this method to dye natural fiber yarns for my crochet or knitting.
Cotton is more difficult to dye than other nature fibers. Remember to prewet and then ring out whatever you're planning on dyeing before immersing it in the color bath.
my mom actually used tea to dye my wedding shoes. i have unfortunate sized feet and had difficulty finding anything i liked. i purchased a simple pair of satin flats in white. we used a wash of black tea to give them a beautiful antiqued patina.
for a client's save-the-date magnets, i tea-stained the magnet sheets to create a rustic look to go with their wine country wedding. they turned out gorgeous!