Originally Posted by ging10ging
I used Woolite because it was supposed to be good always on delicates but the red flannel I used color came out. I wonder if that was what caused the color problem. Does anyone know? Thanks, Sue
Did the flannel itself visibly fade or did you find a lot of red in the water or on other things it was washed with?
If you found a lot of red without the flannel visibly fading, it could have been lint. Flannel is made from cotton fabric that is woven out of heavier thread than what is used for the usual quilting fabrics. The last step of the manufacturing process is to run the fabric between rollers that are like giant wire brushes. These rollers catch at the fibres on the surface of the fabric and pull them up and out of the twist of the threads, creating that fuzzy surface.
This process also creates a lot of loose fibres that are just waiting to come out of the fabric.
I remember a few years ago, my husband came to ask me to look at the skin on his arms because he thought he had an "unnatural flush." Well, it was an unnatural flush, all right--he'd been wearing a new red plaid flannel shirt and the lint was all over his skin! A shower for him and a few trips through the washing machine for the shirt took care of the problem with no medical expertise needed.