How to Dye with Coffee

Coffee has been used for ages as a way to dye fabrics, clothing, textiles, and even hair. Coffee dying tends to work best with natural fabrics. When washing your coffee stained fabrics you will want to avoid detergents that remove natural stains or your dye job might just disappear. If the fabric is new you will also want to wash it prior to dying as the sizing that is in most fabrics may cause it to either not dye at all or to dye unevenly.

First step to dying with coffee is to crack out your coffee maker and make a pot of coffee to dye with.

Dying Clothes, Fabric, & Textiles With Coffee:
Hopefully you already have your pot of coffee brewed. The other materials you will need are:

• A container big enough for what you are dying, your item needs to be able to float, not be crammed into a tiny bowl. (A washtub might be a good idea for this.) Fill your container with water.
• Item you are dying.

Mix your coffee into the water. Test a small area of fabric so that you will know how quickly the coffee will dye it and if it will soak into it properly. To test the fabric follow the directions for dying the fabric.

Use clear water to wet your fabric. Then submerse it into the coffee water mixture. Be sure that you keep your fabric moving so that no folds etc, sit for too long. You will also want to keep an eye on your dying so that you can see when the color is dark enough for your liking.

Once the fabric looks like it has achieved the color that you desire, take it out of the container and rinse it with clear water until the water running out of the fabric is clear.

Wring out your excess water.