The best way to dye fabric with tea

Which is the best way to dye fabric with black tea?

Hi Creative Mamas! I am so excited to share with you how to achieve beautiful results with tea dyeing fabric! I want to show you this super easy and quick way to dye fabric with black tea.

It’s the easiest natural fabric dye to use 🙂

All you need is fabric and some tea bags. Black tea is one of my favorite dyes and it definitely has made it in my list of 40 plus natural dyes to try.

Tea Dyeing : What you need to know

The main reason why dyeing with black tea is so easy and fun is because tea naturally contains tannins which means that it will bond to the natural fibers without the assistance of a mordant.

You will normally go through a few steps before you can even dye your fabric as explained in this article.

But I am about to share a super quick hack to get amazing color from black tea and avoid a few long steps along the way 🙂

Dyeing fabric with tea is a super eco friendly process and a fun activity to share with the kids. You can also tea dye wool and roving and create beautiful knitting, crochet and felting projects!

You can also create an amazing bright color palette using other natural dyes. Find out which are the best natural dyes to use by completing the form below.

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Complete the form below to download the FREE Natural Dyes List and learn which are the best dyes to use to create bright and lasting natural colors!

The best dyeing methods to use for dyeing fabric and wool with tea

My favorite dyeing methods to tea stain when dyeing with black tea are:

• Hot dyeing method (the method used here which requires a hot dye bath )
• Solar Power Method
• Over dyeing Method

Is tea staining or dyeing permanent?

Yes! It’s definitely permanent (colorfast) because it’s a substantive dye. Just make sure that when you rinse your fabric the water is coming clear.

After that stage the dye should never bleed again and it will be there forever 🙂

What kind of tea do you use to dye fabric?

You must use back tea to dye fabric and yarn because it contains high levels of tannin. this means that the tannin acts as a mordant and you can tea dye without the use of mordants such as Alum.

How to tea dye fabric with tea Tutorial

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How to dye cotton fabric with tea

For this tutorial I will show you how to dye 100 % cotton which is a cellulose fiber. As with all natural dyeing processes you must use 100 % natural fibers to obtain best results. With a simple fabric burn test you can make sure that you have the appropriate fiber before you start the dyeing process. Click here to read how to quickly perform a fabric burn test.

You can follow this tutorial using these napkins or you can use any regular 100% cotton fabric. I love these napkins because I can give them away as presents!

Step 1: Tea dye

Fill a pot with hot water. Add 1 tablespoon of neutral PH soap and stir well. Place fabric inside the pot. Bring solution to a boil and boil the fabric for 1 hour until the water is yellow. Rinse well.

Step 2: Tea staining in the tea dye bath

Fill your dye pot with water and place the tea bags inside. Use 6-10 black tea bags (I used 15 tea bags for this tutorial).

Bring the liquid to a boil (high heat) and let it go down to a simmer for 15 minutes minimum. Once you have a nice brown color (strong black tea) you can place your wetted fabric inside the dye pot. 

Make sure there is enough depth inside the dye pot so that your natural material has enough room to move freely inside this concentrated tea bath. 

Stir well and keep simmering for 1 hour.

The fabric will start to take the color little by little. You can leave it simmering for longer if you feel that the color is not intense enough.

Also remember that the color will look lighter once the fabric is dry.

You can also add more tea bags to the dye pot in case you really want to increase the dye intensity.

The dye bath will keep working for you as long as you keep the heat source going 🙂 Just play around and have fun!

Step 3: Removing the fabric from the tea dye

Once you are happy with the color intensity that has been achieved (in my case it took 1 hour of simmering) you can remove the cotton from the dye bath and rinse it well.

You want to make sure that you rinse until there is no color coming out. Tea dyeing is very easy because of the tannins in the tea. The fiber normally absorbs the tea dye really well.

The result of dyeing fabric with tea

How to achieve an antique look using tea staining to dye fabric

I use a little hack called “over dyeing” to change the color of my commercially dyed fabrics and threads as well as to change the tones of my antique laces, trims and doilies.

To learn how to give fabric a vintage look using black tea check out this tutorial.

Tie dye with tea dye

Using black tea dye for tie dyeing in a great idea! You can follow the exact same steps as I used when tie dyeing a t shirt using cochineal.

The good news is that you can avoid mordanting the fabric, but make sure your fabrics are scoured and totally clean :).

How to dye using tea or coffee with cold water

I also like to use the Solar Dyeing Method to dye with tea or coffee. It’s a fun process and super cool to share with the kids. Check it out here! There is no heat dye bath required!

This method will allow you to extract the color little by little by using the sun as your heat source. It’s very cool because it means that you can make your dyeing jars and leave them alone for a couple of weeks.

The color will release little by little with no effort from your part. I love this method and I use it lot for smaller pieces of fabric scraps and for embroidery wool yarn.

I usually have 10 jars on the go at any one time.

For dyeing with tea I use black tea bags from the grocery store and for coffee I use the used ground coffee from my morning coffees. I buy regular English Breakfast tea bags.

How long to leave fabric in coffee?

When dyeing fabric with coffee I usually leave it for 3 weeks.

How long to leave fabric in tea?

When dyeing fabric or yarn with black tea bags I usually get excellent colorfast results within 1 week

Can you dye fabric without boiling?

Yes! You can dye fabric and yarn without boiling or simmering at hot temperatures by using the Solar Dyeing Method or the Cold Dyeing Method.

Are you interested in Natural Dyeing?

Check out our SHOP for all courses and resources about natural dyeing and eco printing!

Can you dye polyester using tea bags?

Unfortunately natural dyeing processes are only effective and permanent on natural fibers such as 100% cotton, linen, wool, silk, hemp, flax.

In order to know what kind of fiber you have make sure to perform a quick burn test. This test will tell you if the fiber is 100% natural and will save you a lot of time and frustration.

If you enjoy dyeing with edible dyes (things that you have around the house) check out these articles:

How to fabric with onion skins

How to dye beautiful pinks with Avocado dyes

How to make natural black dye with acorns

Want to remember this? Save this tutorial to your favorite Pinterest Board!

If you want to learn more exciting ways of naturally dyeing fabric or yarn check out this great way to print fabric with leaves as well as this great fabric printing activity for kids.

More fun creative fabric and wool crafts include quilt as you go tutorial using the tea dyed fabric scraps, creating fabulous pom poms, embroidery stitches and techniques and a great sewing tutorial to make your own socks!

All of these tutorials are great to use in combination with tea dyeing just make sure that the fiber is 100% natural and you will get great results.

I love dyeing silk with fabric dyes and tea makes a permanent fabric dye which is a beautiful rich brown (just lovely)!

How to upcycle old clothes with tea dye

Tea dye can also be the best dye for clothes if you are upcycling old jeans, shirts or t-shirts. Follow these steps:

• Wash your old clothes (remove all dust and old stains)
• Make sure your garments are all 100% natural fibers (you can do a burn test to make sure)
• Prepare the tea dye solution
• Immerse the clothes inside the dye solution. Leave it simmering for at least 1 hour
• Rinse well until water runs clear
• Dry well

You can also use loose tea and place it in a large bowl to extract the color as we did with the tea bags. Make sure that you use enough tea (at least 80 percent of the weight of your fiber). 

Also doing a test stamp is a great way to test what kind of color you can get from your tea dye on your cellulose fibres or even on a piece of paper. 

You can get warm tonal results as well as intense and dark colors, it all depends on the amount of tea that you use in relation to the amount of fiber. 

You can also create amazing tie dye patterns using rubber bands or folding techniques, as a resist to the dark brown color on a white shirt for example. 

If you are interested in tie dye, check out this post here on how to tie dye an old cotton t-shirt. 

You can create lots of tea-dyed items but make sure that you are working on 100 percent natural fibers and avoid using synthetic fibers.