diy: tea dyed floral shirt

Next time you’re brewing a cuppa, why not brew a little extra and use it to give a subtle vintage twist to a “too bright” shirt. I say too bright, in my case I mean too white. White simply doesn’t suit my skin tone. Bright, is not a feature in my colour palette either. BUT I really loved this top that I thrifted earlier this week. So I bought the cheapest jumbo box of teabags I could find and set to work. Did I mention I actually hate tea? I’m a coffee girl all the way. But it does have it’s uses….

 

I used 100 cheap teabags. (Typhoo if you were wondering. On spesh at £2.50 for 200)…

 

Brewed my tea solution in about 1.5 litres of hot water for about 10 minutes….

 

Strained the teabags (give em a good squeeze) and then topped up my pan with about another 1.5 litres of boiling water (this is a standard casserole pan if that gives you an idea of the size)…

 

Wet the garment first, then submerge in the tea….

 

Bring to an enthusiastic simmer, then turn off the heat and allow to steep in the solution for at least an hour. Preferably 2. Stir/turn frequently to ensure an even result. Then pour away the solution, rinse until water runs clear in warm, graduating to cool, water. Then chuck in the tumble dryer to help set the colour…

 

And check out the difference! It’s actually a vintagey peach colour in the flesh. and definitely more “me” and importantly, more likely to get worn.

Now, lets talk about fabric content. I actually wasn’t expecting great results with this because it’s only really supposed to work on natural fibres. (I’ve used this method to dye silk before here) This top, although it looked and felt like a lightweight cotton, is actually 100% viscose. But, hey, it worked. So far I’ve hand washed it twice with no obvious fade…next time I’ll try it on a delicate wash in the machine and see how it goes. Will keep you posted!