Get Your Retro On

I recently finished this darling retro coffee ad for my kitchen,

but I was sorry that I used such a bright white fabric. 

It just didn't seem to match the 1950's tone of the pattern.

Here is the finished piece with the white fabric:

Well?  I thought I would try dying the fabric in coffee to see how it would turn out. 

Having never done it before, I was a little nervous,

 seeing how I already had stitched the entire thing (I'll never get those four months back...)

I started with really diluted coffee, since I wasn't sure what the result would be and then slowly added more of the coffee into the bowl to darken it.

I checked the fabric every 10 minutes or so. 

When I was happy with it, I rinsed it out with fresh water and let it hang dry. 

 Then, I ironed it out and framed it with a walnut frame I found at a flea market (perfect size!)

I probably could have gone a bit darker, too, but I didn't want to alter the color of thread too much.  Hope this inspires you to play with dying your own fabric - it's really quite easy and lots of fun!

Happy crafting!

xoxo

Genevieve