Dyeing cross stitch fabric

Before you start

• Dye first, stitch after. Color the cloth, let it dry, then stitch.
• Use cotton or linen. Natural fibers take dye. Cotton Aida and linen dye well. Blended evenweave takes the same dye differently, and often lighter.
• Start with white or a pale color. Dye adds to the color that is already there.
• Cut the piece with its full margin. The edges fray in the bath, so oversew them first if you can. The fabric calculator, opened on a design of 100 by 100 stitches, gives the size to cut.
• Wash the starch out. New Aida is stiffened. Wash it in warm soapy water so the color can get in.
• Try a scrap first. The same bath gives different colors on different cloth.

Tea and coffee dyeing

Tea and coffee give cloth a soft tan, the look of old linen. They are the simplest way to start.

1. Brew it strong. Use far more than you would drink: six to nine tea bags in a pot, or a pot of strong coffee. Black tea gives the surest brown. Herbal teas give other tints, but those are more likely to fade or wash out.
2. Let it cool enough to handle and pour it into a bowl. Add water if you need more to cover the cloth.
3. Wet the cloth and squeeze it out. Damp cloth takes color better than dry.
4. Soak it. For an even color, spread the cloth out, keep it under the surface and move it now and then. For a mottled color, crumple it and leave it.
5. Wait. Leave it for half an hour to an hour or more, and look at it now and then. The stronger the brew and the longer the soak, the darker the cloth.
6. Judge it darker than you want. Wet cloth looks darker than it will dry, and the rinse takes some color out as well.
7. Rinse in cool water until the water runs clear.
8. Dry it flat on an old towel. Press it while it is still slightly damp.

Do tea and coffee harm the cloth?

Tea and coffee are acidic, and soaking puts that acid into the cloth. Museums that care for textiles keep acids away from them, because acids yellow and weaken cloth over time. A tea-dyed piece will still give many years, but expect it to age sooner than cloth that was never stained. Weigh that for a piece you mean to hand down.

Using fabric dye

Fabric dye gives any color, pale or strong. Every dye has its own instructions, and they come first. The steps the makers share are these:

1. Dissolve the dye in water as hot as the packet says. One common dye asks for about 140 °F (60 °C).
2. Add salt if the packet calls for it. It helps cotton and linen take the color.
3. Put the cloth in wet.
4. Stir, or do not. For one even color, use plenty of water and keep the cloth moving, most of all in the first 10 minutes. For a mottled color, use little water, scrunch the cloth and leave it alone.
5. Leave it for 10 minutes to an hour, as the packet says. Lift it out now and then to look.
6. Fix it the way the maker says. Some dyes are fixed in the bath, and some have a fixative that goes on straight after.
7. Rinse in cool water until it runs clear, then wash, dry and press.

Dye safety

The makers' own instructions ask for the same few things. Wear rubber gloves. Cover the table. Never use a pot, bowl or spoon for food again once it has held dye. One dye seller also asks for a dust mask while you handle dye in powder form, so that none is breathed in.

What dyeing does to the cloth

• It is softer. The starch is gone, so the cloth is limper than it was.
• It is lighter than it looked wet.
• It may still give up color. Dye that was not rinsed out can come off on your thread or run when the finished piece gets wet. Rinse until the water is clear. When you wash the finished piece, use cold water and do not leave it to soak. See how to wash cross stitch.

Where to go next

• For cloth that is bought already dyed, and which designs it suits: hand-dyed fabric.
• For choosing a color to set off a design: fabric colors.
• For getting cloth ready to stitch: preparing fabric.