1950's, 1960's, art, coffee ads, coffee posters, coffee stain, craft ideas, diy, do it yourself ideas, dunkin donuts, dying fabric, finished cross stitch, kitchen, retro ads, staining fabric

Get Your Retro On

I recently finished this darling retro coffee ad for my kitchen,
but I was sorry that I used such a bright white fabric. 
It just didn’t seem to match the 1950’s tone of the pattern.
Here is the finished piece with the white fabric:
Well?  I thought I would try dying the fabric in coffee to see how it would turn out. 
Having never done it before, I was a little nervous,
 seeing how I already had stitched the entire thing (I’ll never get those four months back…)
I started with really diluted coffee, since I wasn’t sure what the result would be and then slowly added more of the coffee into the bowl to darken it.
I checked the fabric every 10 minutes or so. 
When I was happy with it, I rinsed it out with fresh water and let it hang dry. 
 Then, I ironed it out and framed it with a walnut frame I found at a flea market (perfect size!)
I probably could have gone a bit darker, too, but I didn’t want to alter the color of thread too much.  Hope this inspires you to play with dying your own fabric – it’s really quite easy and lots of fun!
Happy crafting!
xoxo
Genevieve

3 thoughts on “Get Your Retro On”

  1. Thanks! I wasn't sure if it would make the thread a funky color or not, but it really worked out well. Next time, I will dye it first though, so I can go a lot darker if I want.

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