Tea Staining and the Dress

Wait until you see how easy this is! Once that’s done, I will talk more about zero waste dress design and what inspired me.

Have you ever wished one of your garments was just a slightly different color or perhaps a shade darker? I may have the answer for you – tea staining. I suggest testing it if you are new to the process first.

The Tea Stain

: I like to use these really large family style tea bags. They have no wrappers so it saves on waste and time. I used the entire box.

: Bring the tea almost to a boil. If you boil the tea bags they can bust open and make a big mess.

: This is what it looked like right before I turned off the heat.

: The dress is placed loosely in a stopped up sink. Some people prefer a damp dress to spread the tea wash evenly. I took my chances here with a dry dress and had no problems.

: Use a strainer to catch the tea bags as you pour your tea over the dress into the sink.

: I let my dress soak for a few hours, flipping it every so often to get an even wash.

The Dress Inspiration

During The Dayton Garment Designers Meet Up group field trip to The Cincinnati Art Museum we got to see the Fabric of India exhibit. The exhibit is made up of many old and some newer garments. This little boys kimono inspired me very much. I could add these concepts to my zero waste collection of dresses I have been exploring.

Shopping Local for Supplies

I’m shopping local this year because I want my stores to stay in business. I went to Little Shop of Stitches in Miamisburg, Ohio to purchase my supplies. They do an awesome mini sewing retreat and everyone there is really nice. I bought 3 1/2 yards of cotton fabric.

The Dress Making

There is a lot I could say about making this dress but I am going to try and keep it simple with graphics. I cut 22 pieces total with the technique shown here for the wrap circle skirt.

I made the bodice by draping the pieces on my dress form and then added darts to give it a fitted and tailored look.

The sleeves were made from the larger remaining scraps of cotton. I put a lot of thought into this dress because I wanted to keep the yellow color away from my face. I also wanted to add thick shoulder pads to give it a more dramatic look.

I made trim by saving all of my scraps and then serging them together.

This worked out great with one exception – my dress was starting to look a touch overdone. I learned the term,”garish,” a while back and it might apply here. Knowing when to stop is important.

To solve this problem I decided to add all of the trim to the inside of the dress. To do this on a circle skirt and have it lay flat I knew I would need to gather one edge of the trim.

The last scrap I worked into the area where I added my tag.

What a difference the tea staining made.

: Before

: Before

: After

: After

Thank you for reading,

Tracy McElfresh,

Dream it! Sew it!

Author
Recent Posts

Tracy McElfresh

Owner at Tracy's Sewing Studio

Tracy McElfresh is an alterations and fit specialist, Kettering Arts Council member, and Kettering resident. Tracy has a skillset built from multigenerational roots in the sewing and garment industries. Operating out of a studio located inside Rosewood Art Centre she provides alterations, garment design (including a strong passion for swimwear), formal and casual dressmaking, and sewing classes. Tracy founded a meetup group in 2014 called the Dayton Garment Designers Meet Up that is open to all newcomers at any skill level. In her free time, she is an avid writer and blogger and was a recognized award winner in 2018 as having one of the Best Dressmaker Blogs on the Planet from Blogspot. You can follow her work on Facebook and Instagram at TracySews.

Latest posts by Tracy McElfresh (see all)