Coffee Dye Mixed Media distressing

This is going to be my first tutorial on this blog so I thought I would start with something simple and fun that yealds fantastic results. Coffee Dying...

So I wanted some fabric that looked like it had quite a bit of age to it. I first thought about tea dying and coffee dying but didn't have much experience with it except to tint fabrics lightly. I wanted something darker so I went to the internet to find out what the best method would be. I found several sites that talked about how to do it in passing but none with pictures so I thought I would post this. Here is the process...

1. Choose your fabrics (this will work with most fabrics though some may be more resistant than others) My first batch included an old cotton pillow case, new fabric, ribbon, lace, and silk flowers.

2. Get some cheap coffee and add a small amount of warm water to the grounds, just enough to wet the grounds down and make a medium thick paste. Take handfuls and scrub them all over your fabric. (I recommend putting plastic down and possibly doing this outside where clean up will be easier because this process is VERY messy) Also you should wear rubber gloves if you don't want coffee smelling hands for a week as well as brown skin.

3. Rub the coffee into fabric, ribbon, silk flowers etc. Anything you want to look VERY aged.

4. Let the grounds and fabric air dry. Then shake excess coffee back into a storage container for future use (the color won't be as strong the next time you use them but they will still work) You can see in this photo the before and after fabrics and lace. Enjoy!