Vinegar in photo quilts NEED HELP!
 

I have made two photo memory quilts and I need to wash them before gifting. I was going to wash them in the color catchers you can buy in the laundry isle but a friend of mine told me to just use vinegar and it would keep anything from bleeding and should hurt my photos. I got the June Taylor Colorfast fabric that is hand or machine washable. Will the vinegar hurt the pictures? Should I just use the vinegar? If I use the color catchers, will they pull the ink out of the pictures? Thanks!

*Whoops... I meant shouldn't hurt my photos

Make one extra photo and wash the heck out of that one with the vinegar. Nothing is as good as your own experience.

Tanya, I would but I used them all in the quilt and to be honest... I am such a tight wad that I didn't want to go buy another whole pack just for that. :o Plus the closest place we have them is pretty far away and I need them by this weekend. I was hoping someone had some helpful suggestions. I knew I should have started earlier!

Color catchers only pick loose dye up out of the water. They have no effect on the dyes in the fabrics. Vinegar doesn't do anything to set modern chemical dyes.

Thank you very much! I've got the hubby picking me up some now! ;)

The "use vinegar/use salt" dictum came about in the 'old days' when fabric dyes were often home done. The choice of which item to use, salt or vinegar, depended on the mordant with which the dye was set. One worked on some things, the other worked on different things.

Since we have no way of knowing what type of chemical mordants are, or would be, used in today's dyes, using salt or vinegar in our washing hardly affects our fabrics at all as far as the dye is concerned.

So having Color Catchers on hand for most of us is as much a part of our quilting supply cupboard as a rotary cutter, seam ripper, or design wall.

Jan in VA

I agree with you and Scissor Queen. I would use the color catchers for those reasons.

did you follow the instructions on the fabric sheets package & rinse your pictures before using them in the quilts to remove any excess ink?
i would use cold water- very little gentle aggitation- a very small amount of mild detergent if you think you need to (like woolite or dreft)
or take to the sink & run water through a picture first to see if it's going to be ok before heading for the washer-
i've printed lots of pictures on fabric & always test-rinse-cure-heat set- rinse-test some more before determining if they will be used in a quilt or in a wallhanging that will not be laundered. there are so many things that effect the outcome. the prepared sheets you buy at joannes do say to rinse them though---if they lived through that step you should be ok---just be gentle-
vinegar isn't going to make a difference for setting the pictures---you printed with ink-not a natural dye. heat setting & curing (and using a good quality permenent ink) is what makes the difference with inks. good luck

All of the ink jet printer inks that are dye-based are water soluble and will eventually fade from washing no matter what you do. The steps that ckcowl outlined will delay the fading as long as possible, but only pigment-based printer inks are permanent.