- Tea time: Wicking from the inside out

I mentioned in this post that I wanted to explore how to make patchwork seams more apparent. And I did try using my Inktense pencils to draw along the sewn edge of two patches, but I was less than thrilled with the result. I also tried painting walnut dye along the seams, hoping it would sink in. It didn't ... not the way I envisioned anyway.

Then I accidentally stumbled on the answer. Reading Jude's post about dyeing corners of cloth with indigo, I thought I'd try putting a wet, used decaf Twinings English breakfast tea bag on the corner of a too-bright yellow patch of linen to see if it would leave a triangular mark. It didn't. 

What the tea did do was migrate through the entire patch of linen. And somehow, as it dried, the color concentrated along the edges ...

I liked the effect so much that I stained three more yellow linen patches, this time using Tazo Zen green tea bags, which left lighter marks, but still pleasing. So I stitched the four patches together using a wonky variegated gold/brown/rust floss that has never before worked visually. This time it did ...

Here's a close-up view of the back ...

As you might imagine, I'll continue to play with this idea, one batch of tea at a time ...