How to Tea Stain a Wedding Dress

Five dollars for this set of sleeves! I was a crazy woman at the estate sale where I found these! I swooped them all up and put them in my bag. I brought my own bags, ready to get ahold of as much as possible!

I'm always so amazed how much stores charge for one yard of bridal lace! Then I usually take it home and tea stain it. SO it got me thinking, what if I buy a cheap wedding dress at a thrift store and tea stain the whole thing. So I hit the thrift stores and Goodwill and came home with two dresses. Both for under $30. 

Supplies:

1. Thrift store wedding dress
2. Three boxes of family size tea bags
3. A very large kettle or large pots to boil the tea in
4. Salt, uniodized (it's cheaper
5. White Vinegar
6. Old sheet
7.Safty pins
8. GLOVES
9. Pair of long tongs, bbq ones work great, clean of coarse
10. A day where you have time to complete this process without stress, kids or dogs. The reason I say no kids or dogs is because the tea will be very, very hot.

Let's get started!

1. Cut out the toule and underskirt which you can save and stain later. There just isn't room do do all of the dress. This will cut out some of the bulk.
2. Using a giant kettle and two larges pots, (or three pots) boil the tea bags to a slow boil then turn the heat off and let the tea set for about 20 minutes. I usually will add an entire box of tea bags to each pot or kettle.  Don't boil to hard, the tea bags will break!
3. Pour at least two cups salt into tub, then put a strainer in the plastic tub to catch the tea bags and carefully pour the tea into the plastic tub. Pour, strain, then throw out the tea bags. Do this for all three containers. You want enough liquid to cover the dress or at least be able to move the dress around in.
4. Wearing your gloves and using your tongs if you want pick up the dress flip it over and put the other side in the deepest part of the tea bath. Remember it will be HOT! The whole idea is to get the dress well covered, over and over. This part of the process is messy which is why I do it i the back yard. This usually takes about 30-40 mins. When you're agitating the dress yourself, the tea gets everywhere! When you're satisfied with the color, hang the dress wrong side out on a ladder, draping the dress over the length of the ladder. Yes it might get a little dirty but you will be washing it.

I wish I had hung this a little prettier with the flowers in the background!

This one was much more delicate, much older so it took the stain much darker.

5. Let the dress dry all the way, in case of bad weather, hang it in the garage with plastic underneath, because it will drip a lot.
6.The next day, pour several cups of white vinegar and water into the tub you used for the tea stain. Place the dress into this solution. Remember you want enough solution to be able to swish the dress around.This is going to set the tea stain. Remember when using a poly blend fabric, it may not hold the color as long or as dark.
7. Swish this around, rinsing the dress. Pour out the excess vinegar/water solution.
8. Now, lay the sheet flat on the grass or garage floor and place the dress in the middle. Using the large safety pins, pin the sheet around the dress, making a pouch of the sheet with the dress inside.
9 Place in washing machine using a mild soap and downey,or whatever you like to use) and use the gentle cycle. When finished, hang to dry. DO NOT put it in the dryer! Some of the sequins could melt!
10. Enjoy!

It's amazing that I lost so little beading.

It took most of the day for this to dry because it was so big. I had to keep repositioning it to dry all the way!

I can just imagine a beautiful bride wearing this, the sun is out, her bouquet is vintage in style, maybe,  a small nosegay of violets?

You're all finished! If you have any questions, please email me anytime! Just keep checking your thrift stores and goodwill online. Thanks for joining me for my first tutorial! How did I do?