Project - Tea Dyed Kimono Fabric

Inspired by Shizuko Kuroha's book I have decided to try my hand at tea dying. In the last lot of vintage kimono fabrics I had ordered from Japan there was a bundle of stencilled cotton fabric with a beautiful blue willow pattern. It is a crepe cotton and I am guessing that it is really quite old. As is to be expected with vintage cloth some of the panels are faded and stained in a few places.

Tea dying gives a warm golden tan colour which I thought could work really well with sections of this fabric, particularly the stained areas. To do this I made up a pot of boiling hot water and added four black tea bags which I left to steep for about five minutes. Once the tea bags were removed I added two panels, making sure the fabric is completely submerged and there are now air bubbles trapped between the layers.



I continued to gently move the fabric in the tea dye bath every now and then, an old wooden spoon is perfect for this. It is important to keep checking the colour of the fabric by lifting it out a little, in order not to let the colour become darker than desired. The depth of colour that can be achieved depends on the type of fabric (natural fabrics, such as cotton, wool or silk will give the best results), how many tea bags were used, how long they were left to steep and how long the fabric is kept in the dye bath. This will require a bit of trial and error with a small sample of your fabric. I left my two panels for 15 minutes and here they are hanging up to dry!

And here are two samples, both beautiful in their own way - the one on the left is the undyed fabric, the one on the left is the tea dyed version. I am really pleased with the colour!