There was a fabric bleed. This was from a bee block so I don't know where the fabric originated from, but let's be honest...I don't prewash my reds either so such a thing was bound to happen eventually. I looked on the internet and found these two sources: from SuzyQuilts and Quilts of Love. They both follow similar methods.
I filled up the tub, added some boiling water, and put a color catcher on the quilt. I put the quilt in the tub, making sure the whole thing was under the water level, and waited.
When I checked it after...maybe four hours...the bleed was gone! Yay! However, there was a new color on the quilt.
Do you see it by the third safety pin? I think it was the pin that did it, but I'm not 100% sure. (I would like to note that having the color catcher on top of the offending fabric was a good idea as it did bleed more.) Anyway, after beating myself up a little bit for not being able to see the future, I tried putting it back in the washing machine with stain stick. No luck. I tried white vinegar + salt + sun. No luck. I finally decided to just add another piece of fabric on top of it and call it good, since this isn't a show quilt.
Wow some lessons to learn here. Reds seem to always bleed in my experience. For one recent quilt, I actually prewashed the red fabrics and for another I put about 4 color catchers in the wash with the quilt. The color catchers came out looking pretty brown so there must have been plenty of color to catch. Good idea to patch over thr second bleed.
ReplyDeleteI really love how your stash bee quilt has turned out and sympathize with your issues of bleeding. You are truly resourceful. I was able to find my blocks in it. Yeah! It always feels good to see our contributions to others. Also, see Making a Lather blog for another method of removing bleeding. I have used it quite successfully.
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