Pink.
I’ve been working on-and-off for the last few weeks on a quilt for the latest Craft Hope project. About three days ago, I had pretty much lost my enthusiasm for hand-sewing the binding, but I plugged away anyway, knowing it was for a good cause, and I finally finished it last night.
The Space themed fabric came from a reversible Pottery Barn Kids duvet cover that I picked up at the thrift shop recently. It had the white pattern on one side and the dark blue on the other. (Remember the pillowcase pj’s I made my boys several months ago? Those pillowcases were from the same set.) I cut up some of the cover into squares and sewed them together to make my quilt top.
The back and binding are made from a red sheet I bought at Target.
I love a good puckering around the stitches in my quilts, so I did all I could think of to maximize this effect:
- not pre-washing any of the fabrics
- washing the finished quilt in hot water
- drying it with hot air
In my enthusiasm for puckers, I never stopped to consider the deep red of the backing sheet. Wouldn’t you know it, all of the measures I took to ensure that the quilt would have the texture I wanted are the exact things that caused the sheet to bleed pink all over the seams.
Uh oh.
I’m not sure what to do next. The pink is subtle, and if it were just for my own boys, I’d not worry about it (in fact, they both said this morning that they didn’t think it was a big deal). But I don’t know… I hate to send in a quilt with pink splotches on it, no matter how small they may be.
Do any of you have any suggestions for de-pinkifying this poor thing?
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Categories: sewing, show and tell
Tags: craft hope, making for boys, margaret's hope chest, quilts
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I’d try washing it again with a couple of color catcher sheets and see if more of it comes out. What a bummer!
.-= See Sarah Jackson’s latest blog post: French onion soup =-.
I’ve never heard of color catcher sheets. I’ll google it and give it a try – thanks!
Yes! Color catchers work great on this kind of thing. Rit also makes a color remover powder, but try the sheets first.
.-= See Penny’s latest blog post: The Garden and the Snail =-.
If it’s really only on the seams, how about Clorox beach pens? My mother swears by them; she got about a hundred years’ worth of stains out of the ancestral christening gown for my sister’s baby’s baptism a few weeks ago that way.
.-= See bzzzzgrrrl’s latest blog post: Lookin’ good =-.
The only problem with that, is that I need to be careful of the non-white parts of the image. It’s worth a shot, though. Adding a bleach pen to my shopping list
I love it!! My 5 YO daughter wants to be the first solo woman on the moon (and the president) and she would love it too!
RIT makes a color remover, should be in the same area of the stores as RIT dye and I know you know where that is!
I’d try washing it with OxyClean and my friend swears by Zout!. I’ve gotten prewashed stains out with OxyClean before. Good luck! If it doesn’t come out I’d just send it anyway.
.-= See Emily Flippin Maruna’s latest blog post: Over the Moon! =-.
My first thought was the Clorox bleach pen – it has a small tip. But Fels Naptha bar soap might work, too. That takes out anything and found in the bigger grocery stores with the laundry detergent. It’s in what looks to be the original 1960′s wrapper. good stuff.
.-= See Carrie G’s latest blog post: Marmalade – A Not So Sticky Monster Bag =-.
hey Lisa, maybe this article will help. Good luck.
.-= See Emma’s latest blog post: Keely =-.
I think I’ve read something in the past about soaking fabric in some solution that will take the colors out of a white but I can’t remember where. I suggest Dharma Trading as a start. I also thought of washing it in some blueing. Did you already dry it?
I was going to suggest color catchers too… Good luck!
.-= See Addie’s latest blog post: Shop Update and Some News! =-.
RT @lclarke522 Polka Dot Cottage: Uninvited pinkness http://bit.ly/3mX7y9
For future reference, you should always pre-wash your fabrics. Not all fabrics shrink the same amount and as you discovered some fabrics bleed. Reds are the worst. Blacks, dark blue, dark greens and purples can do it too. You can check them by soaking them in the sink first. There are a few great product called Retain and Synthrapol that will help set the dye in the fabric and keep it from bleeding. I’ll do both Retain and then wash the quilt with Color Catchers, which are totally awesome, if I am worried about bleeding. I was glad to see that the color catchers lifted some of the color that was already there. I thought that once it was heat set from the dryer it wouldn’t come out.
You’ll still get that puckered look even if you pre-wash and iron the fabrics.
Cute quilt btw!