I need to age some fabric for a costume?

Question

I have approximately 15 yards of fabric that I need to darken quite a bit. Most of it is natural, unbleached muslin and the rest is a large, sparse print with the background being a similar color to the unbleached muslin, and I need it to be almost black - think Mrs. Lovitt from Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. I've heard of tea and coffee aging, but since I've never used any aging method I need some advice. What type of coffee or tea do I need to use to darken the fabric to near black, but still be able to see the pattern of the patterned fabric? How much of said coffee/tea would I need to how much water? And how do I lock the color into the fabric, so it won't run or lighten?

I figure how long I soak the fabric depends on my own judgement, but if I'm wrong correct me.

Answer 1

If you dye it with commercial dye, add 1/2 c salt and 1 tsp dish soap to the dye bath. This will help it take better and set the color. After you dye it and rinse it in cold water til it runs clear, soaking it in a tea or coffee (VERY strong) bath will 'age' the fabric and make it look old as opposed to freshly dyed.

Answer 2

Coffe and tea will only discolour, not really darken to the extent that you want.  I would suggest a fabric dye that is just a shade lighter than the print, or if using black just dye it for a short period of time (1/2 wash cycle) so it doesn't get too dark.  The longer you dye it the darker the dye colours.  If it doesn't dye dark enough, rerun the dye session again.  Then, to lock the colour in, run the fabric through a wash cycle with about 2 or 3 tblsp. of salt.  The salt sets the dye.  There is also a commercial dye set that you can get if you don't want to use the salt method and it should be available where you buy the dye at a department store, fabric store or hobby/craft store.  Dylon and Rit are two makers of these products and are very reliable.

Answer 3

Use Dylon machine dye in a colour that you like.  All the instructions come with the packs, and you buy the right number of packs to get the colour you want for the weight of fabric that you have.

I dyed white linen a glorious deep chocolate brown this way.

Answer 4

I think it's called Ritt or s like that. Vinagar Base ,or Indian,Indigo, black [

Answer 5

If you have a scrap of the fabric you could try to darken it with tea or coffee. Or you could look for dye, however the dye might cover up the pattern. I would test anything you decide to do (on a scrap piece of fabric) that way if you don't like it you can try something else.