Hi All!

This week we’re launching some new laces in the shop, and when I saw them I immediately knew they would be perfect for this tutorial! Did you know that you can dye your bra making supplies with coffee and tea?

Both coffee and tea are natural acid dyes, just how they stain on your clothes, you can use that dye power to dye your bra making supplies- although it’s important to note, your supplies must be made from nylon not polyester (polyester does not dye with acid dye). Our findings kits (picot plush elastic, strap elastic, channelling, wide band elastic and hook and eye) and our powernet is all made from nylon and dyeable with acid dye.

For this tutorial I’m using one of our Black Beauty Bra Findings Kits (View B) and one of our Jordy Bralette Kits (Picot) in white, and I’m dyeing the Black Beauty supplies with tea, and the Jordy supplies with coffee.

 

How to Dye your Bra Supplies with Tea & Coffee

 

It’s the same process of dyeing with both tea or coffee, and the first step is to make your coffee, and steep your tea. It’s best to make a fairly large pot, and using a dish that is deep enough that all of your materials will be able to get a really good soak. Then before adding your materials into the tea or coffee, pre-soak them in water. This helps to get the dye nice and even, so it’s less patchy and will absorb evenly instead of soaking into dry patches.

Then add your materials into the coffee and tea, and it’s okay if the tea and coffee is still really hot- the heat will help the dye to really soak in.

Make sure to give your materials a good stir so they are all evenly soaking and continue to stir while they sit- any pieces that float to the top and sit out of the coffee/tea won’t be getting as much dye. I found the the dish on the left with coffee was a much better choice than the dish on the right, because it was deeper and everything could soak into the coffee better.

Then you can set a timer. I don’t think you can leave them in too long, but I think 1 hour minimum is good. And don’t forget to stir every once in a while to move things around to get the most even dye. I’ll admit that I forgot mine for a while and ended up with a couple lighter patches, but stirring it around will really help to even everything out.

After an hour, this is what my elastics looked like – tea on the left, coffee on the right. Tea gives a much paler colour, and coffee is a bit deeper and more golden. But both colours did get lighter after they dried.

I rinsed everything in cold water really well and squeezed out as much water as I could before I hung them up to dry.

Coffee dye on the top, tea dye on the bottom. Tea dye gives more of an ivory tone, where coffee gives more of a pale gold. Now I would also recommend not washing your bras with a really stain-busting type of detergent, or this will fade, but it should hold better if you hand-wash with a gentle detergent.

And they were absolutely perfect for these laces- High Tea & French Cafe lace!

Pictured above is our Black Beauty Bra made in our High Tea Lace Kit, and our Jordy Bralette made in our French Cafe Lace Kit. I’m so happy with how these came out!

Do you think you’ll give tea or coffee dyeing a go? Do you have any tips to add in the comments from your bra-dyeing experience? I’d love to hear them!

Shop our Vintage Vibes collection with these laces & try the tea dyeing for yourself!

 

xo

 

Erin