Coffee dying cross stich fabric that has already been stitched

As I said in my previous post, I decided I wanted to coffee dye my linen but without, hopefully, dying the floss that had already been stitched in place. Here is what I did.

I did a test on a piece of scrap linen to see what would happen.

Before

After: side the coffee grounds were on

After: reverse, side the coffee grounds were not on

What I learned from this test was that I liked the reverse side better than the side the grounds were on.

Here is what I did to dye the actual piece of linen with the stitching.

1. To reduce exposure to the coffee grounds, I cut out Glad Press N Seal and covered the front and back of the stitching. I tried to cut it close to the shape.

2. Lay a piece of foil on a baking sheet.

3. Place fabric face down (because I wanted the grounds on the back side) and lightly mist with water.

4. Scoop damp coffee grounds (already-brewed in my case) and spread them around with your fingers across the fabric.

5. Let sit briefly, maybe 1-2 minutes depending on how dark you'd like it.

6. Submerge in a tub of water. Press N Seal will float right off.

7. Rinse to remove all coffee grounds.

8. Roll in a towel to dry.

9. Press with a dry iron. I pressed around the stitching first, then put a towel down and the stitching face down and pressed the stitching. Allow to dry completely.

I really loved the results and found that this might be addicting. :)