Tea Staining: Vintage Look

Tea staining is a great way to give a revamp to a white piece of clothing or material. Personally, I love the dirty beige coloured fabric that you end up with! It can even give a vintage look to a cheap piece of fabric or flower; as seen in this example.

**Disclaimer: It’s a good idea to experiment with a sample piece before you risk making a mess out of something you adore.

Here’s how:

Step 1: Heat & Prep
- Heat up the water you will be using.
- Once it is almost to a boil turn off the heat and drop in your tea bags.
- Leave to sit for 5 minutes.
- Stir and remove tea bags.

I used 3 tea bags in my smaller pot, but you can use more depending on how dark you want your end result to be. When working with tea you want to remember to stir it before and while your clothing is inside, this will help ensure a more uniform colour.

Step 2: Stain
- Place the piece you want to stain into your tea
- Stir the tea and object
- Let it absorb the stain for 3-5 minutes (or longer depending on how dark you want it).

After stain

Comparison: the lace on top is not stained.

Step 3: Dry
- Ring it out, squeeze it to get out drips
- Set somewhere safe to dry.

Keep in mind that while drying the tea will continue to stain your object. So you are going to want to ring it out to ensure it is not dripping before setting it somewhere to dry. Ensure the lowest part of the piece (where the water will drip) is somewhere you don’t mind having a little more colour. Or, if possible, toss it in the dryer and tumble dry.

Step 4: Enjoy!