Help- My White Quilt
Is Now Pink !
What Should I Do ?
Fabric Colorfastness
There is nothing worse than piecing all your squares together, putting it in the wash, then finding out your whites look more pink and your other colors have splotches of rainbow colors on them. And you were ready to blame your husband for throwing something in the wash weren’t you? Ugh!!!
Help -It’s Bleeding
Before we get into anything else, it is important to note that it is wise to test your fabrics for bleeding potential, especially dark colors like reds, greens,purples and blues.A quick way to test your fabric is to put a small piece or square of the fabric in the sink filled withhot water and a little soap (not much). Let it soak for a while, then check to see if the water color is clear or discolored. If it is clear your probably fine without washing your material.
Another test to double check to see if it bleeds is with a white paper towel. Squeeze excess water out and lay it on the towel. If the color is still seeping, rinse it again and repeat on a new paper towel.The amount of times you have to do this will indicate how much you need to pre-wash your fabric.This will give you a good idea of how color fast your material is.
Most of the fabrics I buy don’t seem to bleed that much. Nowadays the materials are made much better than they were years ago and bleeds a lot less. But I don’t like surprises, especially after all the hard work that goes into my quilts.So I always prewash them after testing – just to be on the safe side.
Laundry Additives
There are two laundry additives additives I use and recommend to use in the wash.
I use Retayne to help set the dye molecules onto the surface of the fabric, essentially making the material permanently colorfast. Follow the directions carefully.Another great laundry additive for quilts, as well as for other bleeding fabrics, is called Synthrapol. I add a capfull to each wash, especially with my quilts. This really helps remove any of the dyes that aren’t fixed from redepositing and bleeding onto the other materials in the wash cycle.
As far as vinegar , the old fashioned treatment some quilters still use, I personally never had much luck with it.
Vinegar is more useful on wool and not effective on cotton. Stick with these laundry additives and you can’t go wrong!
Don’t forget to check out our other pages on our helpful links tab for more tips on fabrics and other interesting topics.
As always, Thanks for stopping by !
Linda and AJ
Just Remember that Girls Just Want To Have Fun!