Fabric Staining

Here I will show you how to stain fabric with coffee and tea. It's a pretty simple task with some really great results. I'm staining this fabric for doll skin tones but this could be used for any number of applications (ie: old curtains that need freshening up, old table cloth with food stains, etc).


I first began by boiling some water & putting 5 bags each of coffee & black tea in my containers. You could also use gallon milk jugs with the tops cut off. I just happened to have fabric dying containers. I left the bags in the whole time but letting them steep for 10 or 15 minutes & then removing them would probably be fine too.

Then I put in the fabric (about 1 yard per container) and left is for almost 24 hours. I say 'almost' because I was getting antsy to see what the fabric looked like so I took it out a little early. I also stirred the mixture anytime I thought about it or walked by. I did this so I could get an even tone but that's not really necessary.

And here is the result!

The top fabric is my original starting color. I used unbleached cotton muslin but any shade of cotton would work if you wanted it darker.

On the left is the coffee stained fabric. The far left one was tossed in the washing machine & washed on a regular cycle. I wanted to see if the color held up & it did.

On the right is the tea stained fabric. I was surprised that it actually turned out darker then the coffee fabric. I also washed one of these like I did the coffee fabric but they are so similar I couldn't tell you which one it could be.


So there you have it! Now you know how to stain fabric. I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!


~Heather