Daffy's Stitchy Friends

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Time for Tea

I was looking for something to do while my bread baked. Tea dyeing a piece of Jobelan and taking photos for you seemed to fit the bill!



Start off by putting six or eight tea bags in a large pot of water and start it a-boil. I have several boxes of various teas used just for dyeing. Not because they are untasty teas or that they dye better but because Rick bought me like 20 boxes of tea for Christmas one year. I can't drink that much tea! After sitting a few months...tea just tastes funny. So it's great tea for dyeing. I think I've been working on these teas for five years??? ROFLOL



Now, once your tea is boiling, wad up your fabric. I'm serious...stuff, crumple, crinkle and really wad it up. This is what gives fabric the variations everyone loved in my Sisterhood fabric. Secure it with a rubber band.





Now dunk it into the hot tea. Use tongs to push it under. You can turn off the heat once the tea bath has boiled. Don't move it around too much but do turn it over a couple of times. Moving it around will reduce the blotches, splotches and speckles and we don't want that!








If you time it just right, your jalapeno cheese bread will be out of the oven at this point. Mmm!






While your bread cools, use tongs to remove the fabric from the bath to the sink. Take off the rubber band and give the fabric a wash with laundry soap.





Lay the cleaned fabric out on an old towel and iron it dry. It will look very dark when it is wet but it lightens up after it is dry. Rick never fails to say, "Wow, that's really dark!" before I've dried a dyed fabric. Every. Single. Time.



Didn't it turn out pretty? Naff photos today...it's very overcast and dark outside but it hasn't rained.

>^..^<



I've been working on my Lizzie Kate Exchange so I can't show you any stitching. I also started Crabby September but unless you really, really want to admire boring rows of border stitches, I'll wait until there is more to see!



*****


Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox






44 comments:

Becky K in OK said...

Umm, your bread looks fantastic. I love jalapenos. Your directions for tea dying are great. I have lots of tea I know I'll never drink. Think I'll try this.

Lynn said...

Thanks for the lesson. I've never tried this but it looks easy so I'm off to dig out some of my fabric and tea. And to think I just gave away some extra tea that had been accumulating.
Your bread looks sooo yummy!

Linda said...

Love the way the fabric turned out...thank you for the tutorial.

Yum, the bread looks too delish...hugs, Linda

Irma said...

I really like the idea of tying off. I didn't realized it would add that effect. Doh...I should have known though because isn't that how you make tie dyed t-shirts? You made the light bulb go off in my brain...thanks! :D And that bread looks delish!!!

Lindsay said...

The bread looks really yummy. I've yet to try dying my own fabric but this way looks really easy so I really should give it a go

Anonymous said...

That's some good looking bread (and good looking fabric too).

Barbi said...

The fabric turned out so pretty indeed....now about that cheese bread...YUMMMMMMM!!!!

Jan said...

You're going to have to post the bread recipe since I have jalapenos coming out my ears!

I keep saying I'm going to try the tea dying and I haven't gotten around to it yet. Thanks for the instructions.

Shari said...

are you going to share your bread recipe??? Yum!! It looks wonderful!
Love how the fabric turned out! Very pretty!!!! Makes me want to see what kind of tea we have! We are not tea drinkers, so using it this way would be great!

Cole said...

Thanks for the tip! I'm not a fan of the smell of tea, but might be able to get past that for some incredible looking fabric like yours, LOL

Looking forward to seeing Crabby September :)

Glenna said...

The tea-dying is great, but man, look at that bread!

Lisa V said...

Mmm, yummy looking bread! and yummy looking fabric too.

Tanya Willis Anderson said...

Pretty cool outcome of your dyeing. That bread looks awsome :)

Tanya

tkdquintmom said...

Ok you have offical NOT made me scared to try dying myself...tea dying that is...I don't want to try the other dying because I have WAY too much stitchy stuff to do before that...anyway THANK YOU for some very simple directions! Sweet!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tips...that fabric looks wonderful! Enjoy your bread =) Meagan

Angela said...

Thanks for the instructions and pics for tea dyeing, I am now willing to give this another try :) The bread looks delicious!

Nima said...

That's nice. I think i'll try this method to tea dye my fabric....

Olga said...

Your bread looks delicious so does your fabric!
Have a great weekend!

Daniela said...

Thank you Sharon for sharing your tea dyeing process with us. I always wanted to try it myself, but didn't know how to do it properly.

And the bread looks so yummy too.

Ruth said...

Cool. I've done coffee dying before but it has never turned out that darkly for me especially not on jobelan. Nifty!

thanks!

Theresa said...

Oh wow~~~~ The fabric turned out beautiful!!! Thanks for the instruction~~
BTY, your bread looks delicious!!!

Diane (di) said...

Thank you!!! You made the whole tea-dyeing thing seem sooo easy. Love the pictures and your instructions are wonderful. As for he bread, yum. My stomach is truly growling. :)

Angela said...

Thanks for the tips. When I'm feeling very brave I shall have to give it a go.

The bread looks great.

Carmen said...

thank you for the tutorial, i like the final color, is great!.

Chiloe said...

I better not show my husband your bread: he's going to be soooooooo jealous !!! ( no jalapenos here - imagine how he feels ... lol)

Thanks for the class ;-)

Christine said...

Your fabric looks great, I'm going to have to have a go at that. I dyed my white vest top a very fetching pale grey this morning, but sadly, not on purpose ;D

BALLET NEWS said...

Oh WOW, this is so clever ! You have the most gorgeous site here and I had to drop by and leave this comment for you - and say hello of course ! Your posts are lovely and you have interesting pictures. It's all perfect so thank you for sharing them all and best wishes....

Ranae said...

Both the bread and the fabric turned out fantastic, but now I am famished.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I love the result!

anna s. said...

Now you really inspired me to try tea dying! BUT - you just HAVE to share your jalapeno bread recipe!!

Sandra said...

Hey that bread looks yummy!!!

The fabric is beautiful, didn't thought it would en up so dark but looks wonderful!

BTW your Wisteria Biscornu is a masterpiece, can't wait to see it finish!

Julie said...

Might have to give this a try, thanks for the info.

Nice bread, wish this was 'smell-a-pc' LOL

Carolyn NC said...

Fabric looks great! (and so does the bread. :)

Jo said...

Great directions, and a great result. I have one little question... how long did you brew your fabric for???

Carol said...

Hey, thanks for your nice comments on my blog, Sharon. I love visiting yours and boy did I pick a good day--a free lesson on fabric dyeing and a gorgeous looking bread. I agree with the other posters--please, please post your recipe :)

Karan said...

Great tutorial - am determined to try this soon, thanks! Tasty looking bread. :0)

Zoe said...

Thanks for the instructions for tea dying. I might have to do this sometime soon. Wish I had some of that bread right now! Yumm-o!

Sharon said...

Your fabric looks awesome, I will definitely try that. That bread looks divine. Is it very spice tasting with those peppers in it?

Lillie said...

I loved your teadyed results, it looked so much better than mind.

Those bread looks so yummy!

Anonymous said...

the fabric looks beautiful - can't wait to see what you are going to stitch on it :)

Rachel S-H said...

That looks great! I love the veining on it!

Sue said...

mmmmmmmmmmm bread! The fabric looks brilliant! Have you ever tried shibori? It is great fun and I reckon you would enjoy it.

Unknown said...

I hate stitching on white fabric - the tea dying might just be the answer!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for posting this how to! I've just dyed my first piece of white Aida and it turned out perfectly! I wadded it up with the elastic bands and put it in black dye. It's all black, grey and purple and all mottled. Perfect! Thanks! :)