Ladies, My little group of quilters at the Senior Center have a problem. We took the finished raffle quilt off of the frame and there were two different bloodstains on the back. Two different people bleed on it that we know of. At the time it happened we had them work on the spots with their spit and the blood came off of the top. We didn't think to look under the frame to see if the stain went clear through the top, batting and backing. One of the ladies worked at the stain with more spit today. She was partially able to remove the stain. The other lady is now in a nursing home and we don't have access to her. The older ladies insist on basting the quilts we work on with straight pins. I am on warfrin and so are several of the other ladies. I know if I get stuck I bleed like a stuck pig. I tried to talk them into using safety pins but they won't budge.
Any suggestions on how to remove the stains. I am thinking peroxide to begin with or a possibly a weak bleach solution. If we cant remove the stains the label will have more company. We may have to applique somthing over the spots.

I think the trick is to use cold water and some mild bar soap or if you can get it a stain removing bar. We have one here called Sard (I think it has eucalyptus oil in it), but any soft white bar soap should do. Use white rags (bits of towel are good) and just gently dab with soap and water and blot, then dab with plain water and blot. It is time consuming but should work. Just don't get everything too wet and don't scrub at the fabric, just gentle dabs.

I am sure everyone will have some good ideas...good luck.

Several methods are listed here
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Blood-Stains
and more here.
http://www.howtocleanthings.com/how-to-clean-blood.htm
I have had great success with both meat tenderizer (has the same enzymes as spit and none of the nasty stuff :shock: ) and club soda (not together). You do plan to wash all that spit out of the quilt, right? :wink: :D

Be very careful with peroxide - I've had it leave yellow stains. Can you use a dilute solution, then rinse and re-apply?

Can you use Oxyclean - it's available in little spray bottles for the purse and I have used it on assorted stains. It does not discolor. I do not know, however, if it is meant for blood stains. Now if someone had smeared Philly-cheese steak.......

#1- Dont beat the old ladies into submission if they arent quilting to your specs!

#2- if you forget about #1, make sure they are not by the quilt or still working on it.

#3- if you wrap them in a thick blanket you can beat them with a baseball bat and it looks like the fell down the stairs.

Other than that I have cut, stuck, poked myself so many times that afterwards I look like I was beat down by an angry mob. And my wife always soaked my clothes in cold water and used some sort of pretreat like Spray-n-Wash with oxi-clean and it has come out every time.

By the way there was no old ladies injured during this post and all information was deduced by watching the CSI series for the last few years. :mrgreen:


Billy

take a large bowl and fill it with milk, then take the sections of the blood stained quilt and put it in the milk. let the quilt soak in the milk over night then wash. there is an enzyme in milk that brakes down the blood.

Lots of things work on removing blood without damaging the fabric.

My favorite is Z'out; Target sells it in a spray bottle with the laundry products for about $3. You can spray it on, let it work, then rinse the spot. Repeat, if necessary.

My mil recently soaked a sweater in All to remove blood; came out perfectly! Biz also works, as does Oxyclean. The only thing I have noticed about Oxyclean is that it really needs to be fully dissolved in hot water first. When using any of these products, you want to use cold water and you may need to allow the spot to soak for awhile to give the enzymes a chance to act.

Are you sure, Billy? Hmmm...you seem to know a lot about it. I wonder if you've used #3 on old ladies in Tennessee? Oh well, as long as you don't use one of your gorgeous quilts to wrap around them before you beat them it's okay. :twisted:

Thanks for all the advice. I'll let you know how it turns out. There is one old lady I would like to gag. She is not a quilter just a critic who asks the dumbest questions. She is a little slow and thinks our little group is her private property. She has actully scared away several perspective quilters. The quilts we do are raffled off to support extra services for the members of the center. The one I am trying to get the blood out of is a sampler that was made entirely by hand by a little old lady, who was taking a class and had no sewing machine. She was one of the bleeders that was able to get her stains out. She is 86 and her skin is like tissue paper. She donated the top to the center along with another one. We secretly quilted the other top and gave her the finished quilt a few months ago. It is a shame that she started quilting so late in life. At least she will get to sleep beneath one of her quilts.

This is an interesting thread.......I too am a CSI fan, but you know, the characters in the show that say the innocent things like "wrap them in an old carpet and take a baseball bat to them" are the first suspects they pursue when something happens! Better be careful! LOL

Do you think any of these will also work on a quilt that the blood has dried, and you didn't notice until after it was washed and dried?

A year or so ago, my Mom had an accident on her way to my house, I came into the living room to see her sitting on 3 lap quilts that were on the couch, blood pouring. After we got home from the hospital hours later, I looked them over, and thought they had excaped damage. Guess that shows that you shouldn't look at things at 3 in the morning, in the semi-darkness of a sleeping house!

In the mean time they were used, washed and dried. Much later, I saw a few small spots on one of the quilts. I am tempted just to put some appliques here and there on the quilt (it is a bargello).

Oh, and for the dear lady who has thin skin that tears easily, I wonder if you could have her wear gloves (if they wouldn't tear her skin worse)?

Just watch the Sopranos you can get a few ideas there............ :lol: :lol:

Billy

My father had to have lung surgery several years ago and the doctor had to leave the incision open for drainage. One of the nurses told my mother to take peroxide to the blood on his pjs and it took it out every time. There was never even a 'shadow" stain. Hope you can get the stains out.

I have volunteered with our local Blood Bank for many
years. Even with much care, some blood drops onto the
donors, and is taken out with, first, peroxide. It is wet and
patted with a rough cloth/paper and done again. If that
does not work, then the heavy stuff is brought in and used,
plain old diluted bleach. It is about a ten percent bleach with
90 percent water. When the blood is gone the bleach is washed out with clear, cold water.

Hope this helps..

use peroxide and Q- tips I pour it in the cap and work from that, and Qtips must not be dripping.
this is all I use for any sewing, it works.

Ms Mac

Don't know if this will work but, my mom always soaked blood stains in a salt-water solution for a minimum of an hour then wash. My bro used to play football and practice uniforms had to be perfectly white when returned at the end of season or there was a penality.

Thanks everyone. I will start with the meat tenderizer and then other things if that doesn't work.

The little old lady has paper thin skin all over her body. It was actually almost to her elbow where she started bleeding. Like I said it was probably one of those darn straight pins they insist on using.

I'll let you know what happens.

Too late now, but in the future can you place pencil erasers on the pin ends in the area where you are working to avoid this from happening again? Or little bits of something to poke the ends into?

Spit--gross! Hydrogen peroxide or cold water will take out the blood.

I have a friend that is diabetic. We were sewing together and she said to make sure the pin point is inbetween the fabrics, not exposed on the backside. I have used this method in my regular sewing and find that it works well.

I am new to this blogging. I have a friend that is diabetic. She makes sure her pin points are between the fabrics, not sticking out the back. You need to bring the pin back up from the back to the centre of the batting. I use this method in my ordinary sewing as well. It sure helps with the pricking. I have not had a great deal of luck removing blood spots.

If it is white, use 1/2 amonia and 1/2 water and blot the blood out. then rince as best as you can.

Blood is a protein stain. If it is colored fabric, test for color fastness BEFORE using the amonia.

I used to work at a dry cleaners and this is what we used.

Billy, this blood thing is really bringing out the violent side of you! :lol:

Worked in a dentist office for 27 years and Peroxide was what we used. I assume you need to always test but never had it fail.

Peg-TX

This thread is a life saver, I was handsewing binding last night and got a tiny drop of blood...salt and water took it out so easily!

Darlene, thank you. I ordered a trial size. Realized I had a blood stain on my white quilt. After spitting many, many times I was too dry to spit anymore. Relying on this to work for me.