Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Tuesday Tutorial With Needles-n-Pins Stitchery

TEA STAINING 
 I thought I share how to some tea staining. I need to work on some of the flour sack tea towels that I embroider so I need to have some tea stain towels. 

I start with white 100% cotton flour sack towels. I get them from my local Joann's (love that store!).
First I boil a pot of water. Then I put about 8 tea bags in the water and let them steep for awhile.
Next I add the towels. Usually I put two in at a time. Then I start with letting them sit in the hot water for about 10 minutes to start with.
I have found out that it depends on the towel and how it is made as to how it will take the stain. Sometimes it stains really dark right away and sometimes it takes more than 10 minutes to darken. I have had some towels that almost never get dark at all. 
Next, I put them in the dryer to dry. Some people say don't dry them in the dryer, but I have and do not seem to have any trouble.
Then I take the towel and draw on the towel. These are my own designs so I have the pattern already drawn so I just trace the design on the towel.
Then I stitch the design on the towel and whalla.......a finished towel!
I really like doing hand stitching. 

Thanks for sharing this fun technique Colleen!
Colleen can be found here:

3 comments:

annie said...

sounds easy enough even for me!
one question: does the tea stain fade after it is washed? I had some coffee stained things do that, so just wondering! thanks!

The Farmer's Attic said...

Great tutorial! Thanks so much for sharing!

Lucy

Barb said...

To answer Annie's question:
I know that it depends on the fabric you use. Cotton and muslin stain very well and some other fabrics don't. After you get the shade of the stain you want you can use one tablespoon of vinegar to a gallon of water to set the color. Colleen