Thank you Sarah (and everyone who seconded her suggestion yesterday) for mentioning Color Catchers. They did the trick! I washed the quilt twice, and each time got up a little more pink. There are still a few seams that have a tiny bit of dye in the stitches, but you really have to go looking for it. The worst-offending areas are much better now.
So thank you, everyone, for your help yesterday! Sometimes I don’t know what I’d do without friends on the internet 🙂
I’m excited to box up this quilt and send it on its way – hoping it spreads a bit of warmth, security and cheer to a little kid who may need some of that…
This is shaping up to be a busy couple of days. In case I don’t make it back here for a while, have a terrific weekend, everyone!
Hooray!! So glad it worked.
.-= See Sarah Jackson’s latest blog post: more comfort food =-.
that’s so great Lisa, and I forgot to mention yesterday that the quilt itself is great and a wonderful gift for some special boy who needs it, well done you!
.-= See Emma’s latest blog post: Keely =-.
I decided to try Color Catchers after seeing these posts; last summer I made a white-and-pastel knit top, and I wore it all of once before I made the mistake of washing it with some of my other hand-knits…one of which was pink, resulting in pink splotches on the white top. I was crushed, and it sat on the porch table (where I’d laid it to dry) for the last couple months, until I saw this conversation. I didn’t believe it would work, but I figured that I couldn’t ruin the top any more than it already was, so today I picked up a box of Color Catchers.
The stains are *very* faintly visible, but hard to see unless you’re looking for them. So thanks to those who suggested them — I’m a total believer now!
That’s great! I need to look around the house and see if I have any other “lost causes”…
Color Catchers were the first thing my mom bought for my oldest daughter as she set off for college! What a wonderful gift! Since then, it’s the first thing I’ve given my other daughter and son as they embarked on “life on their own”! When I prewash quilting fabric, I always toss a Color Catcher into the wash to make sure all the fabrics are going to “play well with others”……
Lisa, I’m so glad the colour catchers worked for you! Love the quilt, it’s really neat.
I am three quarters of the way through making 12 quilts for a mission school and to my dismay, when I sprayed two of them to get rid of the blue marking pens I had used for my quilting lines, the burgundy fabric I used in both of them ran- not much in one of them but quite a bit in the other. I will be looking for colour catcher sheets today. And in future I will pre-wash all my fabric. My previous patchwork teacher said not to, so it’s not a habit I’ve developed :(. It breaks my heart that all of the work I’ve put into these quilts could be ruined.
Oh, I hope they work for you! I don’t do a lot of quilting (in fact, it’s been several years since I quilted anything) but I’ve always preferred not to pre-wash my fabrics, because I like the nice crinkly effect you get the first time you put a finished quilt in the wash 🙂 But I guess that approach can backfire!
I hope your quilts come out ok. It sounds like a great cause.