Monday, November 10, 2014

Fabric Recovery - Brown

Since cold water worked well for removing the wayward color from my finished quarter cabin blocks, I have begun a similar soaking process for the rest of the fabric.  I started with the brown since it was the obvious offender.


When I put the fabric into its bath, it hung on top of the water for a few seconds, then started to fall piece by piece.  It looks a little bit like a sting ray here!


There was a lot of color to remove.  I changed the soaking water six times before it stayed clear enough that I was satisfied.


I laid the pieces out on a towel to dry, trying to keep them as square as possible.  After soaking, the squares ended up approximately a quarter of an inch smaller in one direction so I'll have to trim them before they are ready for the sewing process.


Linking up to MOP Monday.

4 comments:

  1. Cool! Thanks for sharing! I never do that before sewing... I just put the quilt in the washer after is done, with some color catchers and then I pray that no fabric will leak around too much color ;)
    But this is a much safer approach! :)
    Thanks for linking up at MOP Monday!!

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  2. Hi Rachel, I've popped over from Let's Bee Social and I'm so glad I did! I read your 'welcome' at the top of the page and thought for a minute I'd written it myself - I also love to run, hike, bike, quilt (by hand as well!) and am a total colour junkie! I wonder if we might have been separated at birth, haha!!! Great projects you have going and I really look forward to exploring your posts some more :) Stephie - www.DawnChorusStudio.com

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  3. That's a lot of loose dye! At least it's all out now and not hanging around waiting to leave nasty marks on other fabrics :-)

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  4. When I have bleeding fabrics I use two products called Synthrapol and Retayne. I first wash it in Synthrapol to release all the excess dyes. Next, I was it in Retayne which seals it so it will not bleed again. I found these products when I began hand dying fabric and have found them to be completely reliable. I buy them through Dharma online.

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