Name: diana
Message: I have purchased bedding which I would like to give an aged look. It is white 100% cotton sateen with a double appliqued sateen stripes or bands on the outer edge area. One band is a brighter lemon yellow, while the other is more golden. How would you propose I go about antiquing/aging this to tone down the bright white and yellow bands? What is the process and steps necessary?

A common answer to this question is tea-dyeing, because the light beige of the tannins in tea serve nicely to age and tone down colors. For sheets, however, an awful lot of tea would be required! You will probably prefer using synthetic dye, which is easier to use in bulk and will last through more launderings.

One possible choice would be all-purpose dye. All-purpose dye has a number of drawbacks: it is not very bright, it is not very washfast, and it tends to run onto other clothing in the same load, when you do laundry. However, you probably would be washing your sheets only with each other, and not with other laundry, and you certainly don't want a bright color. A lot of the all-purpose dye will wash out after a number of washings, but then you can always repeat the process. Dyeing in the washing machine does not allow you to reach the near-boiling temperatures required for the best performance of all-purpose dye, but that may be acceptable for your particular project. You might want to try "ecru" or a small amount of "tan" or "taupe".

As a general rule, fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, is more desirable for use on cotton, because it works extremely well at temperatures that can be reached in the washing machine, and it is far more washfast than all-purpose dye. This is the only type of dye to even consider if you want to dye cotton in brighter or darker colors, or to use room-temperature water in the dyeing process, as in tie-dyeing. Fiber reactive dye is best purchased from a company such as Pro Chemical & Dye; their premixed color "vanilla bean" #011 looks like it would probably be a good choice for your purpose, or "chino" #500N, or "ecru" #5223. Follow the washing machine dyeing instructions (check under "dye auxiliaries" for other ingredients that are called for).

Your new sheets almost certainly have a wrinkle-resistant resin finish which will limit the dye's access to the fiber. This can result in paler colors or light areas, when dyeing. Be sure to wash them in hot water with detergent (preferably Synthrapol) and soda ash, before dyeing. Washing several times may help. Old sheets are easier to dye than new ones, because some of the wrinkle-resistant finish will wear off. While it is possible to remove permanent-press finishes with muriatic acid, this is generally not worth doing.