How to Dye Yarn and Fabric with Coffee

Materials & tools you'll need

Step 1 — Make the coffee dye bath

Add about a third of a cup of dried ground coffee to a big pot of hot water. Use more water than you think you need, because you want plenty of room to pull all the pigment out of the grounds. The video used a blonde roast, Starbucks True North Blend, but a dark roast would be the better pick for a deeper colour. Bring the pot up to a boil, turn it down to a simmer, and let it cook for about an hour. By then most of the pigment is out. It won't keep giving after that, it will just make your house smell like coffee.

Step 2 — Strain and soak your cotton

Strain out the grounds. A French press works well for this. Put your pre-soaked (already wet) pieces in a glass container, then pour the strained coffee over them. Glass is a good choice for the soaking container. In the video the batch included swatches crocheted from white Bernat Handicrafter Cotton yarn, fine and coarse unbleached cotton muslin, and a piece of bright white cotton trim. Leave everything to soak on the counter. The recommended soak is two to four hours. The pieces in the video sat closer to 12 hours because the daylight ran out before filming, and that worked fine, but four hours should be more than enough.

Step 3 — Squeeze and rinse until clear

Put on gloves so the dye doesn't stain your skin. Fill a big bowl with cold water and stir in about a teaspoon of gentle detergent with no dye and no fragrance. Other detergents will work, but you may lose a bit more dye in the rinse. Lift each piece out of the coffee and give it a good squeeze, then rinse it in the cold water by squeezing, shaking and rubbing it until the water runs clear. It won't go back to white, since the fibres are stained now, but this removes the extra pigment so it doesn't bleed onto your clothes or wash out unevenly later. Squeeze out the excess water when you're done.

Step 4 — Dry, then wash cold

Lay each piece flat on a dry towel somewhere warm and dry. About five hours worked in the video. Once it is completely dry, run it through a cold wash cycle with detergent. This is the last check that any leftover pigment washes out, so the piece is ready to use, or to wear if you dyed a clothing item.

What to expect from coffee dye

The result isn't the brown of a cup of coffee. Most of that pigment fades, and what's left is a sandy tan. It looks underwhelming next to the original white, but it's a pretty colour in person. The bleached white cotton yarn and the crocheted sampler gave the most colour, and the sampler was already washed and dried and kept its colour. The unbleached muslin only got a few shades darker, ending up a warm tan close to camel. It looks good next to plain unbleached muslin if you're making something that combines both, but it wasn't worth the hours of soaking. If you're working with unbleached muslin, leave it as it is. If you have white cotton yarn or a finished crocheted piece, this is a fun one to try. It would also work well as a project for kids or a classroom, spread over a couple of days.

Frequently asked questions

What materials do I need to dye yarn and fabric with coffee?
You will need about a third of a cup of dried ground coffee, a large pot, plenty of hot water, a French press or strainer, a glass container for soaking, gloves, a big bowl of cold water with a teaspoon of gentle dye-free, fragrance-free detergent, a towel for drying, and your cotton yarn, fabric or crocheted pieces. In the video these were white Bernat Handicrafter Cotton yarn, unbleached cotton muslin, and white cotton trim.

How long should I soak yarn or fabric in coffee dye?
Two to four hours is the recommended soak. In the video the pieces sat for about 12 hours because of timing, which worked fine, but four hours should be more than enough.

Does coffee dye work on unbleached cotton muslin?
It works, but the change is small. The unbleached muslin only got a few shades darker, ending up a warm tan close to camel. Bleached white cotton yarn and crocheted pieces showed much more colour, so coffee dye is better spent on those.

Is coffee dye colourfast?
Rinsing in cold water until it runs clear, drying completely, and then running the piece through a cold wash with detergent removes the excess pigment. The crocheted sampler in the video had been washed and dried and kept its colour, a sandy tan rather than the brown of a cup of coffee.

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