But as you can see the background is pretty much pure white.  That would never work with what I am trying to achieve.  So, what to do?  Go out and try to find something like it with a more yellow background ? 
 

Here's what you need to do this very simple technique.
1. Instant coffee.  (I got this       coffee at Walmart for          $1 and it tasted terrible !!      So, rather  than throw it        out I decided to put it in        my craft room to use for        coffee dyeing.)
2. Water
3. Bowl
4. Spoon

Put your fabric in the bowl and stir it around or dip the fabric up and down ( pretend you are a pioneer woman washing in the river).  Make sure it is evenly wet for an even dyeing 

Now I have something I can use that is a much better color.  Keep in mind that if any of the pattern is light colored, that will  take on the tea or coffee staining as well as the background.  Since this was a black pattern on white it wasn't effected at all. 

What do you think of when you hear the word  
Picnic napkins,  curtains...?  I see a man in cowboy boots, cowboy hat slightly askance, chewing an a piece straw with one foot on the bale and a gingham kerchief tied around his neck ...pure  nostalgic Americana, right ? 
 It might surprise you to learn that gingham was first manufactured in Dutch colonized Malaysia and also in Indonesia and India.  The Malaysian word "genggang" means striped and is likely the origin of the word gingham.  It probably looked different then since it refers to any plain woven fabric in stripes, checks, plaids or solids.




The mills of Manchester, England began to weave the checkered pattern we are more familiar with today in the mid 1800's.  



The French call it "vichy" and interestingly consider it to be composed of 3 colors-  white, the contrasting color and the color made from the blending of white and the contrasting color when the two are woven together.



 

Another surprising  fact is that it had spiritual significance in some of the cultures which first began making this type of fabric.
  In Indonesia it symbolized the battle between good and evil because of the starkly contrasting colors .
 In Japan it was used to wrap around buddha statues when a child had died.   


 
Gingham has no "right side" or "wrong side" because the threads are dyed and then woven so it looks the same on either side.  It is  one of the most economical and utilitarian types of fabric to make.
 Today gingham is almost exclusivey known as a checkered fabric . It has stayed more consistently popular with children's and men's fashions.
Although gingham has faded in and out of popularity throughout the 21st century,  it is never far from view.

The next most notable appearance of collage as we think of it was in Japan.  Calligraphers used collage techniques by gluing bits on paper and fabric on surfaces to be used as a background for their poems in the 12th century.

Some collage techniques appeared in Medieval Europe in the 13th century but the most famous collage artist working in the 18th century was Mary Delaney.  She created very detailed, botanically correct floral collages using tissue paper and hand-colored papers.  She called them "Paper Mosaiks" and completed 1700 of these from the age of 71-88.


But some art authorities hold to the view that collage was never properly a part of "fine art" until the works of Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the 19th century.  They used collage techniques in conjunction with painting, forcing the examination of art as a process and concept rather than an end product.  And the use of newsprint in their collages brought new meaning in relation to current events and social issues.

Here, Picasso included oil cloth, (similar to modern day contact paper) in this collage called "Still Life with Chair Caning".

One of the most famous artists associated with collage is Henri Matisse.  Later in life when he was in poor health and had stopped painting, he did many of these paper cut-outs.  This one is called 
"Blue Nude II" .

That is the thrill of making art I think.  It cannot only be for the artist.  Human nature  compels us to share experiences and making art is no exception.  However, I don't think it is always possible to predict what we as artists "make others see".   That is also the thrill of making art.  It opens a whole broad world not only for the artist but for the viewer as well.  Not an exact science at all.  

This piece by Gerhard Richter suggests some things to me but I daresay the suggestion is entirely different for you.