Art, Craft and Needlework, May, 2012

[Harmony]

Sunny, I had bright reds in the 1st quilt I did and I washed them separately from the other colors; 2 washings and I don't believe they bled more than the 1st time. I'm sorry you're having that trouble, and I don't have a clue how to fix. But, I'm surprised to read what Harriet says about vinegar. I have considered using that as fabric softener, as I'd read one can substitute that for the softener...no I'll not try that!

I know there is a dye catching towel one can buy to put in the wash and it catches dye before it gets on other clothing, but I think it just catches the dye, doesn't prevent the bleeding. Hmmm I'm wondering, Sunny, did your towels all turn pink? I hope not!

I'm working on the brown rocks beneath the lighthouse now. It's a mottled dark brown and I'm making what I think looks like piled up rocks. Then I have the sky and the sand to do and that's about 1/3 of the quilt, should go pretty quickly; but the border will take a while as I'm doing that tiny stitch stuff around all the sea shells. Learned my lesson about that kind of quilting with this project!

[Sunny]

Harriet.... thank you so much for the information about red fabric and using Retayne. We'll be out on errands tomorrow and will try to find this product. I thought about using the vinagar rinse and I'm glad I didn't after I read your post. I bought this fabric and the black at Ikea. It is such a nice shade of red and nice feeling material, (and only $4.95/yd) so would hate to return it if I don't have to. (Maybe it was too good a deal, eh?!!!) Thanks again for the info!

Harmony.... your quilt sounds really pretty. I hope you take a picture for us to see!
Oh, yes, when I washed the red it did run on the towels, but they are old ones, not rags yet but used for odd jobs like wiping up large spills, drying the ddogs and guarding the back door against water sneaking in during a rainstorm!

[Lynlee]

Another alternative to stop dye running is to add salt to the rinse water.

[Harmony]

I've never heard of using salt. Interesting.

Got a neat package in the mail from Sunny, she sent me a few quilt patterns and a couple quilt magazines. Of course I had to sit down and read. I had to call her too and we chatted. It's nice having the same hobby as my sister!

I have over 1/3 of the sky quilted; the row of sailboats is done, and over 1/2 the lighthouse is quilted. This part is making it look "pretty" and I'm pleased. I quilted the outline of a seagull either taking off or landing. If I ever see a gull like this one at the beach I'm going to run and hide - it is the size of the sailboats! Scale is definitely off, but I like the way it looks.

[Lynlee]

I always salt quite often to stop a dye when it seems "just right". We were taught that method at college.

[Harmony]

Lynlee, how do you do that? Do you just dissolve some in the rinse water? How much do you use?

I had a disaster here last night. I was quilting away and got paper towel and water and was wiping off blue removable marker lines. It was going fine, but then I noticed the 2 red blocks on the lighthouse bled into the white blocks and the blue sky. Akkkk!

I had washed those 2 red fabrics twice. So after trying to rinse with clear water, then trying soap and rinsing, putting big bucket underneath to catch, I gave up on that and took whole quilt (rolled on the rails) to the kitchen and rinsed and soaked over and over - just the lighthouse part that was bleeding. Then I noticed red threads inside showing and I took some stitches apart so I could unsandwich it and get inside to clip those fuzzies. After I'd done as much as I could, and googled the products to use, synthropol or the one Harriet recommended, I decided I'd finish and try something at the end.

I put it back on the rack and put overhead fan on for the night. The red is all gone now, though the surrounding blue is a bit faded in a couple spots from all the scrubbing. I did get some water on it while removing some more marks this afternoon and it appears to be ok now.

Yikes! Red is a problem material for sure. Unease about all this made me go back to 1st quilt and check, and none of those reds bleed, thank heavens.

I was up till 4 in the morning doing all this. Sheesh!

[Lynlee]

Harmony - I've used the salt in the process of dying fabric so I guess I'm assuming it will work for predyed fabrics you buy. You would rinse the fabric in warm water w detergent to make it bleed -then when colour was right switch to clear water and disolve a heap of salt (like a spoon/handfull depending how much you have) . Thats done in the sink or a basin /bowl so you can see what its doing, And when enough is enough. and that its stopped producing more colour in the water.
If you already have the fabric sewn with the others its possibly too late for that technique. Would a really hot iron help set the colour? just thinking aloud.


Here theres a product called runaway that can clean up things that have run. I think its sold in the dye section. That may be same product Harriet wrote about. I haven't used it. Just heard about it.

[Harriet]

I've heard of Synthropol too, which I think is made by the Retayne people for quilts/garments that are already finished products, whereas Retayne is for fabrics as yet uncut??? Not sure - something like that, and I'm sure if you've looked it up you have learned a lot more than I know. Wow, red fabrics are a PROBLEM, huh?. Yet red is so attractive for its contrast. I'm so sorry you were actually up in the night trying to deal with this... ... I know Sunny will be sorry to hear it. Sounds like it is already so much better, thank goodness. If a blue in a nautical quilt has a partially faded look, to me that would only add watery-looking interest and could be assumed to have been on purpose for a fabric choice. As HRH would say, a "That's my story and I'm sticking to it" kind of a thing?

Lynlee, couch pillows made with hand-dyed fabrics were selling for BIG MONEY ($150-$250) at the fancy store I enjoyed so much today, A nthropology. Yes, the hand-dying was interesting, but frankly you could have told me each fabric was a mistake and I wouldn't have known any better - just oddly dyed, yet whether artistic or funny-looking was in the eye of the beholder!

[Sunny]

Oh my, I felt so sorry for you, Harmony when I read about her quilting and the red running! I'm glad you were able to stop it and get the quilt cleaned up. You've worked so hard at finishing this one.

Joanne Fab. store did not have the Retayne but another product made by Rit to set the color after the dyeing process. So we went on to the Quilt shop and they had the Retayne that Harriet mentioned and another product. I got the Retayne. The other product they had was for synthetic cloth, like polyester, etc. (I don't remember the name of that one). My washer is a front loading, so I will have to use a big pot or bucket to set the color on my material.

[Harmony]

Thanks, Lynlee. I have some of that red left and plans to put it into 2 more quilts, so obviously I've got some work to do before then.

Aparently, dye spreading like this is more than one problem. One set of chemicals sets dye wherever it is found, and that would include the dye that bled into surrounding. One wouldn't want to SET dye one was trying to remove. Then there is the process of getting all the excess unset dye out of a material, which is a different chemical.

I was reading that RIT has a couple products, one is for setting the dyes (like the salt thing Lynlee suggested) and one is for removing...but I also read there is one that removes dyes anywhere, and that would be more like a bleach. Think about using the wrong thing and all over dyes start to disappear. Yikes!

My red problem for this one is ok now. The lightened spots in the blue are part of the sky on both sides of the lighthouse. I did take extra time to quilt a bit of extra stitches over and around those areas to minimize the difference.

I am planning on telling both DD's and the kids to enjoy these quilts and be mindful but not worry about damage and wear. I want the kids to remember using these things, and not save them for adult years when future wives could care less about quilt clutter that doesn't fit a decor!

I'm also planning on giving both of them a box of those color catchers to use when washing. I've read that is very helpful.

About hand dying, I sometimes think Batik (sp) has the look of something gone awry with the dying. Cut up and used in squares is attractive, but when I look at the bolts, it's almost like I can tell where they dribbled water to spread the dyes. I've also seen quite a few of these materials that I didn't think the fabric itself was such a good fabric. It seemed like looser weave and not as sturdy as nice cotton. JMO