Dyeing lace

Found in the antique mall last week was a bag of 16 pieces of this peachy pink lace trims. New and in great shape! Now how to change that peachy pink to more a vintage color.

My goal was to take the original lace color of peachy pink (left) and to make it more antique or vintage looking. The middle piece of lace was dyed with tea and left in the dye for 30+ minutes. Not much of a change but enough to make the pink pinker (is that a word?) and less peachy. The piece on the right was dipped in water to moisten it and then I sprayed it with a walnut crystals mix (7 Gypsies crystals). I like this one. It looks more old and vintage.

The problem with dyeing this lace with tea is that the lace is made from polyester/cotton mix and not all cotton. Polyester does not like to be dyed. But the walnut crystals mix did the trick. If the lace gets wets, I suppose the walnut mix will rinse out. However, I don't usually dip my art work in water once it is done! LOL!!

I have found the same to be true with fabric. Mainly polyester fabrics won't tea dye well. The fabric has to be mainly cotton (with some polyester, maybe) or all cotton.

These pieces were in another package at the antique mall. They started out white. I tea dyed them for about 15 minutes. They came out nicely aged. Sorry! I don't iron until I absolutely have to!!