Tea Staining

I have decided to tea stain all my fabrics to give a nice, natural looking colour that gives a mood of Marrakech.
It is a really cheap and easy method and also gives the rugged look I am trying to create.
I thought about the different colours using various herbal teas but decided to go with the good old english breakfast for an orangey/brown almost terracotta shade.

Obviously the different fabrics would take the stain in differently and would each have a different tone.
I want this as i want the layers to be subtle but noticeable.


I used about 15 tea bags in a bucket of hot water, let it soak for about 5 minutes to let it brew.

Then slowly started pushing the fabric into the water with my hands and a wooden spoon making sure all surfaces were covered in the tea. 

I left the fabric soaking in the tea for about 10 minutes and kept moving it about to make sure all areas are dying. 

Before I took the fabric out to hang to dry, I made sure the full length of the fabric had no white marks and was fully covered. 

                                     

                                      


I did this process with all of my fabrics each of them came out in perfectly.
i really liked the effect i got on the scrim, as the edges pull together and created a really nice curl.

I was really, really happy with the results of the tea staining. The silk chiffon came out as a really soft, orangey tinge. The tea made it seem a little less transparent but i was still happy.