I have seen so many women on social media sharing photos of dyeing their own evenweave, linen and Aida fabrics for cross-stitch and other embroidery projects. I have seen beautiful results with tea dyeing, ice dyeing and many other methods. Some are going for an antique look. Others are dyeing fabrics in deep purples or bright greens.

I have never tried dyeing my own fabric, but I can’t say I’m not tempted. So, being the librarian that I am, of course I started doing my own research. I’ve collected this mega-list of tutorials for dyeing fabrics, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that there is no one right way to do it. There is a lot of experimentation, creativity, and adventure involved.

Background Information

• Needle in a Haystack has a great primer that shares what fabrics the pros use, how different types of fabric take dyes, and some tips for washing hand-dyed fabrics.
• If you’re looking for a one-stop website with all the technical information you could want about dyeing, look no further than Paula Burch’s All about Hand Dyeing.

Tea and Coffee Dyeing

If you like primitive-style cross-stitch designs, you may want your fabric to have an antique or rustic look, and dyeing fabric with tea and/or coffee is one way to do that. Here are several methods for dyeing with coffee and tea:

• “Tea and Coffee Dyeing Floss and Fabric” by Martha Beth Lewis
• “How to Tea-Dye Cross-Stitch Fabric” by Connie Barwick
• “How to Tea-Dye Fabric for an Aged Look” by Stitching Cow
• “How to Coffee Dye Cross-Stitch Fabric” by Connie Barwick
• The Twisted Sister has a tutorial for using both coffee and tea together for dyeing.

Basic Sink or Bucket Dyeing

All you really need to dye is a sink or bucket and your fabric dyes, along with some salt or vinegar. Here are some simple dyeing tutorials:

• “How to Dye Aida” by Happy Cupcake Creations uses the sink method
• “How to Dye Using the Sink or Bucket Technique” from Rit
• “Tub Dyeing Basics” by Dharma Trading Co.

Ice or Snow Dyeing

These tutorials use ice or snow in combination with fiber reactive dyes to achieve a mottled or tie-dye type look:

• Learn how to ice dye from the Dharma Trading Co.
• If you need a reason to look  forward to winter, “Snow Dyeing Tips” by Vikki Walsh is pretty amazing.
• This video from Hobby Lobby breaks down the ice dyeing method in 2 minutes:

Marble Dyeing with Shaving Cream

You can achieve a marble effect in your fabric by using fabric dyes with shaving cream.

• “Shaving Cream Dyeing” by Dharma Trading Co.
• The National Quilter’s Circle has a number of great fabric dyeing videos on YouTube. Here is one that covers marbling with shaving cream:

• The Rit Dye company also has many video tutorials on dyeing processes, including this one about the shaving cream marbling process:

Painting Your Fabric

Instead of dyeing, you can also try painting your fabric, as these tutorials show:

• “How to Paint Aida Cloth” by Wee Little Stitches
• “Coloring Aida Cloth” by Nancy Bandzuch
• A video tutorial for using watercolors to paint on Aida fabric:

There are so many methods and techniques for achieving different results when dyeing fabric. This is just a selection of some of the most popular techniques for dyeing needlework fabrics.

Have you dyed your own fabric? Feel free to share additional tips, horror stories, or successes!