Black Tea Dye On Polyester Lace and Fabric

Black Tea Dye On Polyester Lace and Fabric
Black tea

Black tea even stains polyester as these dye samples show! I’ve used polyester lace and chiffon – both fabrics were white before dyeing. For the dye solution, I’ve made a strong brew of black tea; and let the fabrics soak for some hours.

8 thoughts on “Black Tea Dye On Polyester Lace and Fabric

  1. I concur, tea will dye polyester. I was able to tea-dye a 100% polyester continuous lace curtaining fabric – the pattern I wanted was only available in white, and all my other curtains are ivory. I used black tea, with a very hot, strong solution boiled up in a huge pot on the stove.

    I got the the fabric soaking wet in plain hot water first, squeezed it out and completely immersed the fabric in the (strained) tea solution. I worked it around a bit with a big cooking spoon to make sure the tea-dye solution got all through the fabric. (I couldn’t use my hands, I’d have burned them.)

    After about 15-20 minutes I put the fabric through a plain wash and spin cycle in my machine, without any detergent. I didn’t bother with vinegar or salt either. After the spin cycle I then hung the curtains back up to dry and they are lovely soft, ivory-cream colour.

    1. did the tea stain remain or did it eventually wash out? I’m trying to end up with a permanent aged look in fabric I used for a table cloth. The fabric is a mix of cotton and polyester

      1. This was just a dye sample so I didn’t use it on a fabric that is washed regularly. However, black tea dye is pretty permanent even without a mordant (it’s almost impossible to remove from fabrics). So I think it should work. And if your tablecloth should fade after a few washes you can re-dip it in black tea dye.
        You could also try onion skins, coffee (both are more yellow-brown) or walnut leaves or hulls (dark brown) – all these natural dyes are pretty permanent dyes even without mordants. I haven’t tried it yet but I think they should also work on a polyester blend fabric. You could make a small dye sample of each dye and look what works best for your type of fabric. Hope this helps! 🙂

      1. Some use vinegar or salt as mordant or to fix natural dyes to fabric. However, black tea contains tannin which dyes a washfast color without a mordant.

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