Time to Dye

The big red pot is out! 

Welcome,  y'all. The supplies are gathered, and I am ready to dye some fabric.  How about you? 

Grab an apron and let's get to work. 

A pretty vintage apron waiting to be used. 

My Recipe: 

Dark coffee

Tea bags

Vanilla extract 

Ground cinnamon

Water

All of the ingredients are gathered for tea dyeing. 

Several things are going to be dyed in big red pot including white 14 count aida, white 100% cotton fabric and lookie there a sweet doll named Hester Sue . 

Aida, cotton fabric and a doll will by coffee/ tea dyed. 

I bought Hester Sue the other day at the Goodwill for $.99. She is as cute as a button , but I do believe she needs a more prim look. 

But 1st off the aida- 

I added my ingredients to the big red pot. I do not have any set measurements. I just eyeball what I want to put in there. 

Add the coffee grounds, cinnamon, vanilla and tea bags. 

Water was added and then the white aida which I had dampened. I bring it to a boil and then turn it down on low. 

Add water and dampened aida to the pot and bring to a boil . 

This is a messy process. But that is half the fun for me! Hee! Hee! I am just like a kid- always messin and gommin'.  😁😀

I check the fabric ever so often . I usually let mine stew for several hours and then cut off the heat and let it sit overnight. 

Lower heat and let fabric stew in pot . 

The next morning , I check my fabric. If it is not dark enough, I add more coffee and heat it up again. If I am satisfied, I usually take the fabric outside and drape it over the firepit to dry. Sometimes I bake it in the oven at 180-200 degrees for 20 minutes keeping a close eye on it.  Once the fabric is dry, I give it a good shake to remove as much loose coffee grounds as possible. The fabric smells heavenly. 

My aida is drying on the fire pit outside . It will dry quickly on a hot summer day. 

Once the aida was removed from the big red pot, I dyed the 100 % cotton.  

Now let me show you the end results. 

First the aida.  Quite a difference. Don't ya ' think? If you get the coffee/ tea dyed fabric wet, it will run and may affect the colors of your floss so be careful. 

The 100% cotton quilting fabric turned out nicely too. 

Now let's see Hester Sue. She just took a quick dip into the pot only staying for  a few seconds. Aaah she turned out very prim. I like her. 

Hester Sue after taking a dip in the coffee/tea mixture. 

Since the fabrics are dyed, I guess I better get to work stitching on something . Thank you so much for dropping by and helping me in the kitchen. 

Now tell me do you dye your own fabric? How do you do it? I am always interested in learning new techniques and tips. 

Have a beautiful day and don't forget  to mess and gomm yourself! Hee! Hee! 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, ya'll

Melisa 

"A creative mess is better than tidy idleness."

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy. I love and miss you so much.. Love you , Amo. 

Messin' and Gommin in the Kitchen

Welcome, yall.  Grab your apron and meet me in the kitchen. 

 A vintage apron with Pumpkin Picker

            

The big red pot is out, and it is a brewing up a storm.  

What is in it you ask? Oh boy, a large pot of steaming hot fabric. Yes! I am dyeing my 14 count aida- my favorite cloth to use in cross stitch.

  My goal is to create ooey gooey  dark grungy fabric just  like that which I used in  my Candy Corn House. Do you think I can do it? I sure hope so. 

 There are many fabulous tutorials out there about tea/coffee dyeing, but I will tell you how I do mine. Now I am no expert. You know me ; I fly by the seat of the pants . 

  Be forewarned 😀- this is a messy project so be ready to mess and gom around.   Now let's do this!!!!

INGREDIENTS : 

🧵cloth

🧵 water

🧵black coffee grounds, 

🧵tea bags, 

🧵cinnamon 

🧵sometimes I throw in a walnut for good luck 

DIRECTIONS: I do not have any set measurements for dyeing. I eye it. 👀Sometimes I load up on coffee for a very grungy dark fabric.   I place my fabric in the pot and add the tea bags, coffee, water and cinnamon. I have even been know to throw in a black walnut or two.  I bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat and let it simmer. Oh, Can you smell it? It smells so yummy!   

 I usually leave mine on low for a couple of hours. At night I cut off the heat and let it set until I am ready to dry it outside the next day.  Once it is dry , I am able to shake any loose coffee grounds out of the fabric. If it is not dark enough , I add it to the big red pot again and add more coffee.  Easy Peasy. 

 Sometimes I bake it  in a pyrex baking dish for about 20 minutes on about 180-190. I keep a close eye on it. I have been known to bake mine extra crispy, but I try to avoid it.  

The tea/ coffee dyeing is not permanent so if you do not like your fabric, wash it out, but if you do like it be careful- do not spill anything on your fabric because it will show.  I bet you can guess how I know. Lol.  

So are you ready to mess and gom? 😃

Eeeh! I really like it dark and grungy. It does look old which is right up my alley. 

After I  am finished messin and a gommin, I pour the coffee/ tea mixture into my compost pile-even the tea bags. All will be broken down in time,  and it will be great for the plants. 

This is one of my newest starts. Another pot is brewing, but you will have to wait and see what is conjured up in this cauldron. 

This fabric was also tea/ coffee dyed , but it is not too dark. 

I am so delighted that you joined me in the kitchen today. The next time I drag you into the kitchen, I promise we will sit down to a good home cooked meal, and I won't have you helping me cook fabric. 😀 But there may be dishes😳😜😂 Nah! Just kidding I will take care of those too.  

Have a very blessed day , my friends and thank you for stopping by for  a little  messy fun . As always... 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, ya'll

Melisa 

A creative mess is better than a tidy idleness. 

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my baby sister, Amy . I love and miss you Amo. 

Messin and a Gommin, Correction and a Doodle

Happy Thursday  and welcome, ya'll. How has your week been so far? Mine has been very soggy. Lots and lots of rain since Monday and more rain through the day is expected. But on the plus side that is good stitching weather. 

I have been working on a new saltbox.  Here is a sneak peek. 

Speaking of saltboxes, I made a little oops on Spring Green Saltbox. I  have seen many stitchers working  on it, and many have finished it. I  believe many stitched right through  the mistake probably knowing what I meant to  chart. Lol. But I wanted to point it out  and make the correction. 

In my first photo, I have my scissors pointed to an area which uses  DMC 937 and uses the symbol $   . There were a couple of squares that were accidently charted with the symbol " 3". They were supposed to be charted with the symbol $ for 937. 

The 2nd photo has my scissors pointed to the top of the flower leaf. There was the symbol •  ( which is 310) . It was supposed to be the symbol  3 which is for DMC 3345 the same as the rest of the leaf . 

I have corrected both the colored and black charts. You can click here to go to the original post or you may want to make a note on your copy.  I am so sorry about that, and hope it has not caused too much inconvenience or confusion.   Please if you ever see anything that seems off  in a chart, let me know. It is truly appreciated. 

Well, what else have I been up too - a little messin and gommin. That's what we say in the south when we are making a mess. Do you want to come along with me and see?  We are off to the kitchen. 

I was recently asked about how I dyed my aida. There are a lot of wonderful tutorials out there, but I will tell you how I do mine probably not much different than you do. 

First, I know you might be wondering do I actually cook with all that stuff on my the stove. Yep I do , but I am always right with it . Usually I cook on my other  stove though. 

First, I cut a hunk of 14 count aida and gather up my supplies. I used coffee, family size tea bags and sometimes cinnamon . Sometimes I also add black walnuts  but not this time though.

Usually, I use about 4 or 5 tea bags, a cup of coffee grounds and a couple of tablespoons of cinnamon- I like the smell. This time hubby saved me some used tea bags so I have those to add in too. 

 I dampen my aida so it is easy to put in the pot. Sometimes I use a big stock pot, but today it is a small pot. 

I place the coffee, tea bags, cinnamon and water in the pot. Now I am a bit messy when I am dyeing. I would suggest putting your coffee grounds in a little cloth bag tied off. I just threw mine in . Eeek - I bet you are saying- "She is  a gommin" .  Lol. ( More about that later.)  

I bring my fabric to a boil, and then I reduce the heat to low and let it sit on the stove for a few hours checking it often.  I keep a pitcher of water by the stove to add to the dye when the water gets low. I ended up cutting off the heat when I went to bed but left the fabric in the mixture. 

Now sometimes I immediately take it out of the pot and then bake it for about 20 minutes in a pyrex dish at 180 degrees,  but I watch it carefully. Other times I do not bake it at all. 

This time after letting the fabric sit overnight, I took the pot outside and hung the fabric on the swing to dry. Once the fabric was dried, I shook out the coffee grounds- messin again.  Since I liked the color of my fabric , I went ahead and discarded  the tea /coffee dye into my garden ( tea bags and all). I broke down the tea bags with a garden shovel and buried them among the garden dirt. They will be gone in no time. Plus the mixture is good for my plants. 

This is how my fabric looks in comparison to beforehand. It is pretty dark. I like it!! Now it is time to stitch. 

 

Oh, I hope you are not cringing too much after reading this. I am sure you do not mess and gom like I do but boy is it fun. 

It has been awhile since I gifted you a doodle. I am all into my chickens right now. So I was working on some Spring Chick doodles last night. I haven't got to stitch them yet, but they are on my agenda for this weekend. I am going to embroider mine using a back stitch and create a little quilt. 

Click here for the Spring Chick Doodles. 

Thank you so much for coming to visit me today. Bring some fabric next time, and we will mess and gom together. I will promise not to be too messy. Lol.   As always...

Happy Stitching, ya'll

Melisa

This weekend I am joining Wendy at Sugarlane Designs for a Friday Night Sew In. Hope you will pop over and check her out and perhaps sign up and check out the others who are participating.

A creative mess is better than tidy idleness. 

Hugs and Stitches!!!