03 avril, 2020

Easy Natural Dyeing at Home with Coffee/Tea

Let's start creating some gorgeous textiles

We all know from unfortunate experience that coffee is great at staining our clothes. It's a talent that we typically don't appreciate—that is, unless it's intentional. Coffee is actually a great resource for creating natural dye. When you're looking for a base that can create multiple shades of tans and browns, your morning cup of joe is the best place to start. Use coffee’s powers for good by turning a hot brew into a natural dye.

Luckily, you don’t need harsh, chemical dyes to tint fabric in lovely colors!

Getting started

List of things you will need:

1. Coffee / Tea powder

2. Salt

3. Vessel

4. Strainer

5. Water

6. 100% cotton Fabric/T-Shirt/Scarf

Process:

1. Pour about 2 liters of water in your vessel and bring it to a boil.

2. Then add four spoons of coffee or tea and let it simmer for 30-40 minutes.

3. Take another container and put warm water from your bathroom heater( you can heat the water on stove as well) and add 2 spoon of salt. Soak the fabric/anything that you want to dye in the solution(has to be undyed/white and 100% cotton/silk/linen) and leave it till fully wetted.

4.Turn off the heat, strain the solution in a vessel and add your wetted fabric to the pot, and use your spoon to make sure that the fabric gets a nice coating in the dye. Let your fabric soak. The longer it soaks, the more vibrant your color will be.

5. Check it after the first 5-10 minutes, and turn on the stove and let the dye bath get to boil, then just keep checking on the fabric every few minutes until you get the vibrancy you’re looking for.

5. Turn off the stove. Take out the dyed fabric from the dye bath and rinse it in tap water until all extra dye washes out from the fabric.

6. Wash it with a mild detergent and dry it in shade. Putting it in sun will fade the color from fabric. Press the dried fabric with mild iron, this will help the colour to set on fabric.

7. You're ready to use it.

I dyed two sample fabrics, one was 100% cotton and other was cotton-silk, soaking them for 10-15 minutes in the dye bath.