Coffee and Tea Staining and Aging Fabric for Fabric Journals o Primitiver Dolls

I recently have seen a new stain formula combining coffee and tea to make your fabric journals or your handmade dolls look shabby, stained, grungy, antiqued, vintage and quite aged.

Mix tea already brewed, instant coffee, cinnamon, vanilla (a tad) and let fabric sit for a bit. I have found that cotton, or muslin absorbs the color where a polyester or acrylic type fabric does not. (You can buy various degrees of cream or tan colored cotton or muslin). It resists the color. Do not rinse your fabric because the new color will wash out. Let it sit in the fibers of the fabric, and lightly squeeze the fabric, lie it down on an old towel to dry. You can also use a hair dryer or your dryer to remove the excess moisture or hang it up on a line with something underneath if it drips. I would stain my fabric first before cutting out the doll patterns.

Various teas like raspberry or blueberry tea have a different pigment and can make the fabric a bit pink tinged or purplish tinged.

After you make your doll or book, put some coffee grounds into your matte medium to paint over it in places leaving a texture, a coffee scent and a matte covering for the fabric.

So now get off to those primitive dolls and aged old fabric journals.