Hello!

It’s January 1, 2024 and I am tea dyeing. Using up old teas and dyeing prepared for dyeing (PFD) Sashiko thread. Here are a couple examples:

• The pinkish colored thread is Hibiscus tea and was pretty vibrant in the pot. It’s mellowed a bit since it’s vinegar and water bath and is now hanging up to dry.
• The brown colored thread is Blackberry Sage Black Tea. I don’t think the blackberry sage has anything to do with this color. Black tea creates a nice brown color and has tannins in it that set the dye into your fabric/thread/yarn. The dried dye stuffs will always turn out a bit lighter once rinsed and dried.

As I write this, the blackberry sage tea mixture is cooling down and coming to room temp so I can handle the Sashiko thread. I may leave it for a couple hours to just be and then begin the rinsing, vinegar bath, rinsing, and drying.

I’m also saving the tea bags and drying them out so I can remove the tea leaves and use the tea bags in my future stitching projects. I haven’t started a project yet but I’m going to start working on one in a couple days as a part of an artist residency. It’s all very exciting but I’m still figuring out my project, what, and how I’m going to make. I’ll post updates here and there for the duration of the residency.

Those wondering where I got PFD Sashiko thread, I found it on Etsy from a shop called Rochester Textile. This post is not sponsored by anyone, including the shop. The Sashiko thread comes in different weights and I purchased a thinner/lighter weight thread.

Happy Stitching!

Camille