My mother unpacked a quilt top that her mother and grandmother pieced in the 1930's. It was very dusty, so she gently hand-washed it and of course every red piece and some of the navy pieces ran terribly. We didn't feel too badly because my grandmother would have been horrified if we had tried to work with something as dusty as this top was. The top has been finished and hand-quilted and we've been pondering the dye stains, toying with the idea of trying the Synthrapol to see if it works. I picked up a bottle in a quilt shop today and explained the situation. The clerk said that her mother used to use ice to remove dye stains that hadn't been heat set. She'd put the quilt in a bathtub and put ice directly on the stain.
So, has anyone ever heard of using ice to remove dye that has run into the surrounding fabrics?
And if not, what has been your experience with Synthrapol?