Organic Dyes for Cross-Stitch Fabric

There are several organic ways to dye your own cross stitch fabrics without having to spend money on expensive commercial colorings. Coffee, tea, and even Kool Aid crystals make great organic dyes. If you know what type of scene you will be cross-stitching onto the fabric, you can design the coloring so that it creates an appropriate background for your stitching project.

Organic dyes for cross-stitch fabric: Kool Aid

Everybody knows that the variety of Kool Aid flavors tastes great, but did you also know it makes an excellent organic fabric dye? You can also mix two or three different flavors together to get your own custom-made colors. Test the coloring out on an old piece of fabric before using it on your good cross-stitch fabrics, especially when mixing your own colors. Consider the type of picture you will be cross-stitching onto the fabric when you are choosing your dye colors. A water-based theme would work well with a blue background made by using blueberry Kool Aid. To dye the cross stitch fabric with this organic coloring, mix the Kool Aid with a small amount of warm water. Use more water to dilute the solution if you want a lighter color. Soak your cross-stitch fabric in the Kool Aid dye solution until you have achieved the color you want.

Organic dyes for cross-stitch fabric: Coffee

Coffee and tea are two other organic dyes that can be used to color cross-stitch fabric. Coloring with tea and coffee is less permanent than using other organic dyes, however. The acid in coffee and tea will degrade in 30-40 years, fading the color of the cross-stitch fabric and changing the background of your picture. Depending on the type of picture, this fading out may actually enhance the image by giving it an authentic antique look.

Organic dyes for cross-stitch fabric: Tea

To dye your cross-stitch fabric with tea, boil some tea bags in a pot of hot water until you get the desired color for your fabric. Add more tea bags if you want a darker color. Because it takes a lot of tea to get a dark dye solution, this method works best for small pieces of cross-stitch fabric. The natural dyes in tea may also be unpredictable, giving you an uneven coloring on your cross-stitch fabric. The effect of this distortion will often be less on a small piece of work than on a larger project. Organic dyes made from tea will only take if the cross-stitch fabric is made of natural material like silk, linen, or cotton. Polyester and other synthetic cross-stitch fabrics will not absorb enough of the tea's coloring to effectively dye it.