Tea staining.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Tea Staining
From: rbutchko.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Rebecca J Butchko)
Date: 15 Feb 1994 14:30:38 -0500
Hi everyone,
I just signed on to this list and am enjoying reading it very much. I am not sure if this is the right place for my question, but I have been trying (with no luck so far) to find information on tea-staining fabrics.
I have two cotton pillow shams which are white, and I would like to change them to a cream/ecru color. I want them to look old, so nonuniform color would be fine. I have a very small kitchen, and was rather overwhelmed by how complicated herbal dyeing looked (mordents, etc.), so I was hoping to try tea-staining. If anyone has any information, I would be very grateful.
From: sandy.twg.com (Sandy Vrooman)
Tea stains are set with heat or sunshine. The equipment is a bunch of tea bags, non herbal like liptons, and a large surface. Crinkle up washed fabric, sprinkle on strong tea and set witha hot iron or leave in sunshine until dry.
Sandy Vrooman
From: cyn.odin.mda.uth.tmc.edu (Cyndi Smith)
> I have two cotton pillow shams which are white, and I would like to change them
I have done tea-dying of lingerie with great success. Items I dyed more than two years ago and have machine washed and dried about once a week ever since have shown only minimal (if any) fading or blotching.
All I do is brew up some fairly strong tea (cheap plain tea is fine - I use Liptons loose tea), let it cool, strain it to remove all solids, soak the item(s) until the color is as deep as you desire (I usually stir the things around a bit to minimize uneveness, may not be necessary). When the color reaches your desired shade (may want it a little darker than what you want to end up with, sometimes a little washes out in the initial washing), rinse the items in cold water. Simple and very effective for an ivory or light brown/beige color.
Hope this helps.
From: af600.FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Lesley E. Cluff)
>I have two cotton pillow shams which are white, and I would like to change them
Rebecca:
Its easy with tea! Just make up a pot, reasonably strong I guess, and add it to water in the sink until it looks a reasonable colour, close to what you want, and add the pillow cases. They should come out an even colour. No problem. Wring and dry. They should also stay that colour through many washings. Simply redo if you want it darker or it wears at all.
Lesley
From: rbutchko.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Rebecca J Butchko)
Hi everyone,
Thanks very much to all the people who posted information to me about tea-staining. I did it over the weekend, and it worked even better than I had hoped. I now have two ecru pillow shams that look great with our antique quilt! (Plus a turtleneck which I tried on the spur of the moment; it was 50:50 cotton/polyester, and worked great, too).
Thanks again!
Rebecca
