About Us -

About CrafTea Designs & Tea-Dyed Tees

Yes, we do custom work -- individual pieces, in bulk, or for resale. Contact us to discuss personalized gifts, tea party favors, tea shirts for your group, specialty items for your tea room/tea shop, or your own custom project ideas.

Our beautiful styles for women, men, and children are perfect to wear to your next tea party!

"So much nicer in person than they photograph." - a happy CrafTea Designs & Tea Dyed Tees customer

We here at CrafTea Designs have been dyeing with tea since we were in high school, creating handcrafted gifts for friends and "friends of friends." In mid-2008 we decided to bring our tea-dyed textiles to the public, and Tea Dyed Tees was born. In 2010 we re-branded as CrafTea Designs & Tea Dyed Tees to better represent our diverse product lines, featuring hair accessories, a wide range of scarves, and our newest jewelry designs.

What is tea?

All true tea comes from one of two plants: Camellia sinensis and its cousin in India Camellia assamicus. The beverage, hot or cold, made by infusing the leaves of these plants in water is the only beverage that can be accurately termed "tea." Beverages made with herbs, fruits, flowers, or anything else, are correctly termed infusion or tisane. Virtually all of the dye blends we use at Tea Dyed Tees are comprised of true tea leaves. We occasionally experiment with rooibos or other tisanes; this will be noted in the item listing.

Who drinks tea?

True tea is the most popular beverage in the world except for water. Although tea is an integral component of various rituals around the world, and contains important health-enhancing micro-nutrients, it is more commonly consumed for enjoyment. Men and women in approximately equal numbers drink tea, and many parents serve tea to their children as well, often in the form of cambric tea (half tea, half milk).

When was tea dyeing invented?

Tea dyeing very likely got its start shortly after tea was discovered. Perhaps some infused tea liquid spilled onto the drinker's shirt, and they were pleased by the colour of the stain it produced. Over the years, most notably during Victorian times, fabrics of all kinds were dyed with tea to produce a "vintage" appearance.

Because the tea colours tend to be somewhat unstable, tea has often been blended with commercial dye products to achieve specific colours and effects. Commercial dyes are never used here at CrafTea Designs & Tea Dyed Tees. All of the pieces you see here have been dyed with tea -- and only tea. We employ our own proprietary dyeing processes to ensure maximum colour depth and retention.

Your CrafTea Designs item will remain colourful through multiple washings if you launder by hand in cold water with a mild soap. Depending on the specific dye technique used for the article you have purchased, and its fabric content, you may see a slight colour loss during the first washing only. This should not affect the appearance of the item. (Certain embellished items may not be washable, and this will be noted in the item description.)

Where do your teas and textiles come from?

CrafTea Designs & Tea Dyed Tees is located in the United States of America.
All of our tea-dyeing, crafting, and designing is done in the USA.

Tea is grown in many countries around the world. There are tea gardens in Asia, Africa, South America, and even Europe and the USA. The teas we use for tea dyeing are sourced from a variety of vendors. We blend them ourselves to produce the exclusive results you see here on our products.

Whenever possible we choose textiles made in the USA for our tea dyeing. Some are stock items; others are unique pieces that we locate from various sources, and some are made here in the USA exclusively for CrafTea Designs.

We're always on the lookout for individual garments and other textiles that lend themselves to enhancement via tea dyeing. In particular we find that embroidered textiles are even more beautiful when tea dyed. Some of the textiles we tea dye were sewn outside the USA. Country of origin is noted in each individual item's listing. From time to time in our travels we find interesting vintage textiles. These are unique pieces whose origins are not always known to us.