Dyeing your own fabric

alicegale

Does anyone have any tips on dyeing your own cross stitch fabric (preferrably linen)?  What kind of dyes do you use?

Stitcher-J

You can use coffee or black tea, the darkness depends on how long you leave your fabric inside the coffe or tea. Try a small piece just to see wich one you like more ... :)

chialea

thanks for a great tip stitcher j :loveliness:

stitchgal

Coffee and tea are both acidic and will cause damage to fabric in the long term.  You should use dyes specifically made for fabric dying.  Dharma Trading is probably one of the best sources, and they have tips.  Videos on youtube also.

alicegale

I used a spray dye called "Tumble Dye" and it worked great.  It gave very good variation in color and once you iron, is permanent.  

Rainbows

Stitcher-J replied at 2012-8-6 15:22

                               
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You can use coffee or black tea, the darkness depends on how long you leave your fabric inside the c ...

I just did this today and it turned out great.  I like the tea better because the scent washes out easier than the coffee.  Its fun to try different levels of colour - and much less expensive than than the hand-dyed fabrics on the market!

XStitchDoc

I just bought some of the TumbleDye sprays and will be trying some Neon Green for Halloween Ornmaments this weekend. I cant wait to see how it turns out!

lasice

Black tea, coffee or dry onion skin, warm or hot infusion. Next step is let it dry, not wash, only dry. And next is using vinegar for fixing colour. And dry again.

lydiya

Thanks for the tips

EvilPoptart320

Ive used Rit dyes in the past, but never seem to get the same color between doing the sample square and then the full piece. Im curious to try the Tumble dye.