Experiments in Tea Dyeing

Ever since I was little, I've had this fascination with color and changing the color of things. So when I learned about using tea, coffee, juice, and other natural dyes to dye fabric, I had to do some experiments. This wasn't my first time doing tea dyeing, but this was the first time I did such a comprehensive test with a wide variety of products. I wanted to post my method, mediums, results and application ideas here. Maybe they'll inspire you too!

Step 1

Choose your fabric! Natural fabrics work best, like cotton. Once you have your fabric, if possible, cut a test swatch. This isn't alway possible, for example, if you're doing a whole dress, an antique, or a single piece of fabric, like a handkerchief. In cases like these, try and find a fabric that is similar to your piece, and use that as the test. The test strip(s) are important to figure out the right amount of concentration (how long you steep your tea) and/or time to

leave your piece in. Since I wanted to try as many different dyes as possible, I cut ten strips.

Step 2

Soak your test strip(s) in a bowl of clean tap water. This removes excess dirt and dye from the fabric, as well as loosens up the fabric to accept the dye better. I left mine in the water about an hour. After awhile, take the fabric out and rinse it under running water. Pat dry, but don't dry them fully. They shouldn't be dripping.

Step 3

Start your testing! I used apple juice, orange juice, and cranberry juice first. Since these don't get brewed like tea or coffee, you can start dyeing right away. I left these swatches in for ten minutes.

Then I started with the tea. I only did three at a time. Each tea was brewed for four minutes. On the left you can see my set up for the swatches. I left all of the tea swatches in for five minutes each. Finally, I used this setup to try two more products, powdered juice mix (expired) and watered down raspberry vinegar. Now since these are only swatches, these little bowls work perfectly fine. But if you dye something bigger, then you will need a much larger container. It has to be able to hold both the item and enough liquid to completely cover the fabric.

This is the most exciting part, pulling your fabric out and seeing what happened! Swatches 1 and 2 (apple juice and orange juice) didn't really take any color at all. After drying overnight, the apple is a tinted white, almost like an off-white, and the orange didn't really change. That's to be expected, as they don't really have dark colors. The cranberry swatch, 3, came out really nice though. After drying, the color became lighter, but a lovely dusty pink color. 4, the green tea, was a light green-yellow when it came out. After drying, it's become much more yellowish. The earl grey tea, number 5, took the dye very nicely. My fabric has a slight print, originally it was white on white. This tea not only dyed the base fabric, but the print as well. Not every substance did that. Lipton tea is number 6, it seems to have gotten cut off. It's not much different from the earl grey in all honesty, maybe just a little bit lighter. 7 is a mint tea. This one came out pretty interesting. I didn't think it would be much different from the green tea, but it is. It's quite green, and the print was dyed darker than the base fabric on this one. It's quite lovely when you hold it up to the light. Ah, if only I could do curtains in it. 8 was the chai tea, and 9 was the lemon tea. They look pretty much the same after drying. They're both lighter than the Lipton tea (6) and the Earl Grey (5). The raspberry vinegar (10) was an afterthought, and I watered it down quite a bit. The color is quite flat, and it smells, well, like vinegar. Finally, number 11, the drink powder (strawberry lemonade FYI). Also an afterthought. This one is nice too! It dyed the fabric, and only a little of the print. It's a bit darker than the cranberry juice too.

Step 4

Let your fabric dry completely. The ideal way to do this is to hang it up on a clothesline overnight. I took mine and sandwiched them in paper towels. This probably lead to the lightening of the colors. Make sure they don't drip onto anything stainable. Do it over a sink, lay out towels below, etc.

Whew! That was a lot of dyeing! But what application does this really have for the world of lolita? So much! You can apply this method for lovely results when making your own accessories. You can control the color and get a completely unique piece all your own. You can dye lace handkerchiefs, and even socks for stunning results.

To seal the color in (prevent it from fading, bleeding, etc.), there's a very simple method. If you have a big piece, like a skirt or dress, then you can do this in your washing machine. I recommend doing this as a stand-alone piece to prevent your other laundry from getting dye on it and vice versa. Set it to cold and allow the machine to fill up halfway, before putting the piece in the machine. Stop the machine and pour in one cup of white vinegar, and 1/2 cup of salt. If you can, turn on the agitator for a few minutes to allow the salt and vinegar to dissolve. Put the piece in and allow the wash cycle to complete as normal. Once should be enough. Alternatively (and probably overall a safer option) you can do this same method by hand. This works well in small batches (if you're doing socks or a headbow or something), but could be tough for a big piece. Repeat the procedure until no more dye comes out.

Are you going to try it? I like to use this method to dye fabric for doll clothes, as they always are small batches. It gives a really nice antique look to fabric and it's a fun project!

Carrot Cake and Happy Easter!

I've become addicted to baking on the weekends for Saturday posts. I'm going to have to make themes around baking for each month if I'm going to keep it up. Anyhow, I made a carrot cake yesterday for today's Easter festivities, then my mom turned it into a bunny! It's really cute! Last weekend I took too many pictures and didn't end up using half of them. So this time, I took fewer of them. This recipe is again a Paula Deen one, and it couldn't be easier!

Butter for pans (this works better than a butter spray, like Pam)

2 cups flour, plus more for pans (flouring your pans makes the cakes come out easily)

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

3 cups grated carrots (about 1lb of big carrots, peeled)

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (if you don't like nuts, feel free to take them out)

First start by pre-heating your oven to 350 F (175 C). Now, take some parchment paper and line the bottoms of three 9in round pans. To do this, just trace the bottom of the pan onto the parchment paper and cut it out. I don't have three pans that size, I only have two. So I made cupcakes with the extra batter. Use the butter to grease the sides of the pan (anything not covered by parchment paper) and then flour them. The flour will stick to the places with butter and it won't stick anywhere else. To flour a pan, put some flour in the pan and sort of shake it around and tap the bottom to coat the sides in flour. Now, if you have a big standing mixer, use that to make the batter. If you don't, a hand mixer (one that plugs in with the egg beater things on the ends) will work. You could do it by hand, but if you have an electric mixer, save yourself the trouble of stirring by hand. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add the eggs and oil and mix it all up. Now, add in the carrots. I used a food processor with a grater attachment to grate my carrots. If you don't have one, use a cheese grater. Matchstick carrots from a bag won't really work for this, sorry! Mix in the carrots, and if you're adding the nuts in, mix those in too. Now, your batter is all done!

Pour the batter into your buttered, floured, and parchment paper lined pans. Again, I didn't have three, so I made two big rounds and six cupcakes. Put them in the oven for 40 minutes. If you're making cupcakes like I did, check them after 20 minutes! In general, you want to

check your cakes about half way and 3/4 of the way through the recommended baking time. Every oven is different. Mine baked the cupcakes in 20 minutes and the big ones were done in 30. Your's might be different. So check them! When they're done, take them out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then you want to pop the cakes out of the pans and let them cool completely on a wire cooling rack. While they cool, make the icing! Cream cheese icing is classic with carrot cake. I can't imagine having it any other way.

2 (two) 8-oz packages cream cheese (don't get the ones in a plastic tub!) at room temp.

1 stick salted butter, at room temp.

1 (one) 16-oz package powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped pecans (again, you can leave them out if you don't like them. I chose to omit them and use them as a garnish)

Put everything into a big bowl and mix it up. It's a super easy icing! Powdered sugar flies

everywhere, so a tall bowl is best. If you're adding nuts into the icing, add those in and use a rubber scraper to stir them in. If you want to dye some icing to make some carrots on the top of your cake, you can separate out portions of the icing and use food coloring or colored sugar to dye it. I didn't do this because my cake turned into a bunny. If you are going to dye some, don't add the nuts in, it's not going to work well with them in. Ice the cakes once they'recompletely cool. You start on one cake and put some icing on the top. Spread it around and then start stacking. Each layer should have some icing in between. Once all three cakes are stacked, go ahead and ice the sides and top. Take your time and have fun! I made those little cupcakes, then I cut the curved top off and stacked them to make an extra tall mini-cake! I topped mine with the chopped pecans, it looks fancy this way.

I didn't get a chance to make the tea for this one, but I grabbed some Dragonwell green tea to go with this. Dragonwell comes from the Zhejiang province of China and is processed by hand! It has a lightly sweet flavor with a little nuttiness. It complements the light nut flavor of the carrot and pecans in the cake, while breaking up the sweetness of the cream cheese icing. And since it's a green tea, it's super good for you, with all those antioxidants and detoxifying properties. Green teas have been shown to actually mop up the free radicals floating around in your body, which helps prevent cancer.

The coordinate for this one is kind of quirky and cool looking. I went with a more classic theme overall, but with some vintage elements.

Carrot Cake by Cat91151 featuring platform boots

This gorgeous dress is a Mary Magdalene one. It has a ton of fine details, yet from far away it reads as a simple piece. I went with cream as the base color, as it's much easier and common in Lolita fashion than orange is. I used orange as a secondary color with the tights, the laces of the shoes, the cardigan, and bits of the jewelry. The vintage bag echoes the vintage feeling of the granny boots. I used bunny jewelry for an Easter theme, but you could use whatever you'd like. A simple crocheted flower in your hair is a perfect spring accessory.

I'm really loving this post, and I can't wait to go eat my bunny cake later. I'm also looking forward to next saturday, the last one of the month has to be super duper special. Submit your tea and/or cake themed coordinates for this week's coordinate tuesday and see them featured here!! Email them to me at cat91151@gmail.com! If you've got a question for me, ask me on my Formspring and I'll answer it! Happy Easter!

Hobbies for a Lady

Many Lolita's will take up new hobbies as they become more involved in the fashion. There are some obvious hobbies that go well with being a Lolita, like sewing or embroidery. However, these aren't the only hobbies that Lolitas should limit themselves to. Sure, these are the popular ones, but there's so much more out there that can be lolified! So for a new twist on Lolita hobbies, check some of these out.

1. Gardening

This is probably something that you shouldn't do in Lolita. But gardening can be great! If you live in an apartment, you can grow herbs and flowers in planters on the window sills. If you have a yard, that's even better. I don't have any sort of green thumb at all, but I have a lot of respect for those that do. You can grow your own herbs and edible flowers to use in tea or in baking or cooking, a more common Lolita hobby. I'm dying to try a recipe I saw for Vanilla Lavender scones, but there's no lavender right now! Did you know that you can also make tea from all sorts of plants, like rose and fennel? It's really fun to try and make your own special brews out of things you grew yourself. Check out this website for more information on what you can use for tea. Make sure to do your research on plants you want to use so that you don't accidentally poison yourself.

2. Collecting

Many of us collect something. I know that some lolitas collect the clothes themselves. They'll collect the prints, the goodies that often come with purchases (Postcards, catalogues, bags, etc.), or even the tags off the clothes. Then there are those who choose to collect something that isn't directly related to lolita fashion. For example, I collect ball-joint dolls, only one of which actually wears lolita fashion. Miniatures are also quite popular.

3. Writing

Many lolitas write articles, poetry, stories, blogs, and in journals. But what I'm talking about here would be closer to having a pen pal. Having a pen pal can be a great thing for both parties involved. If you're a more mature lolita, it could be nice to take a newbie under your wing and show them the ropes. If you live in an area without any other lolitas, you can have some lolita friends this way. And you can even exchange small gifts, like handmade cards, jewelry, and sewn items. Cool huh? It also gives you an excuse to buy some cute stationary and use it!

I hope you liked this! I can't wait until spring is here so that the flowers will start growing and the sun won't set so early. I love to make my own tea from fresh mint leaves, it settles upset stomaches, is refreshing, and if you mix it with lemonade, it's really unique and tasty!

A Quick Guide to Tea

Tea is perhaps the oldest beverage around. It was found in ancient China, when tea leaves accidentally fell into a boiling pot of water. The emperor drank it and found it to be delicious! Thus, tea became a staple in Asia. However, tea did not make it to Europe as a whole until much much later. Sure, some tea came to European towns through the Silk Road, but tea was not nearly as popular and easily available until the 16th century, when a Venetian author attributed long life to tea drinking. From there, tea spread like wildfire. It was first marketed to Europeans as a medicinal beverage, but it wasn't long before the courts of Europe took to tea and made it a refined beverage for the wealthy. Tea parties became popular amongst high class women and their friends. Soon, Dutch settlers took tea to what is now known as New York state. But it wasn't until the mid 1800's that High Tea, an English tradition, was created.

Tea is probably my favorite type of lolita meet-up to attend. Even if it isn't a traditional English tea service, it's still a lovely time. High Tea in England is like a small dinner and is also called meat tea. What this actually means is that tea is served with smoked meats and fishes, eggs, small sandwiches, and breads. In America, we use the term "High Tea" to refer to what the British call a Full Tea. Full Tea involves small sandwiches, hors d'oeuvre (appetizers), scones with clotted cream and jam, and assorted pastries.

Many American tea houses offer different choices for tea. For example, my favorite tea place offers a full tea service with the scones and the sandwiches and everything. However, they also offer a simpler tea, served with assorted scones and cakes. Depending on how much time you have, what you want to spend, and the different choices offered at your tea house, tea can be a fantastic meet-up to attend.

Types of Tea

Pretty much everyone knows about green tea and black tea. But there's also white tea, oolong tea, herbal "tea," and pu-erh tea. Each one has a distinct flavor profile, aroma, and color. However, these types only refer to when the tea is picked, how it is picked, and what is done after it's picked.

Green Tea

After the tea leaves are picked, they are immediately dried, baked, panfried to dry it out for packaging. Because it is immediately processed, many of the antioxidants and other healthy things are sealed in. This makes green tea a great choice for health conscious tea-drinkers.

Black Tea

The leaves are allowed to oxidize and develop deep and complex flavors. Each black tea is unique to the grower, with no two being quite the same.

White Tea

This tea is picked before the leaves are fully developed, right before the buds open. These are then air dried and packaged for sale. Because the tea leaves are picked before they are mature, this tea is more expensive. It also contains three times the levels of antioxidants as green tea, as well as other health benefits.

Oolong Tea

Oolong tea is somewhere between green tea and black tea. It's allowed to oxidize, but not as much as black tea. The resulting flavor is very smooth.

Herbal Tea

It's not really tea at all because it does not contain tea leaves. Instead it is made up of roots, seeds, flowers, other types of leaves, and other parts of plants and herbs. It often serves a medicinal purpose, but chamomile and peppermint teas fall under this category too. It's made the same way as tea with tea leaves is made.

Pu-erh Tea

Pu-erh tea is unique to the Yunnan province of China, just like Champagne is a type of grape only grown in the Champagne region of France. The leaves are allowed to grow a thin layer of harmless mold. This tea is known for its health benefits, particularly known for reducing high cholesterol.

No matter what type of tea you enjoy, tea is a delightful beverage for any time of day or year. Right now, my favorites are jasmine tea, an herbal tea called Rooibos tea, and oolong tea picked by specially trained tea-picking monkeys. However in the summer, I drink enough sweet iced tea to keep Lipton's in business for a long time. I make loose-leaf tea, but if you want to get a tea bag, then I highly recommend Tazo or Stash brand teas, as they are high-quality and retain their flavor for a long time. What's your favorite type of tea?