Old 08-13-2011, 09:27 AM
  #10  
Prism99
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
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I would take it to a laundromat and use the biggest front-loader they have with hot water and Synthrapol. You may have to wash it multiple times this way to get all of the bleeds out, but it should work eventually. I would bring half a dozen boxes of color catchers and throw a box worth of those in with each load also. I would plan on spending the day at the laundromat.

Chances are the bleeds were caused by one or more reds not being rinsed enough at the factory to get rid of excess dye. Fiber can absorb only so much dye; any excess sits on top of the fibers waiting for water. If this is the case, and it's the most likely scenario, the red(s) will stop bleeding and multiple washings in Synthrapol will gradually get rid of the unset red bleeds.

Do not dry the quilt in the dryer unless you are satisfied that all of the bleeds are out. Drying naturally isn't as bad.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

Edit: I agree that part of the cause may have been your home front loader. These do not use enough water for bleeds to disperse. That's why I recommend a laundromat's largest front-loader; still easy on the quilt, but there is enough water for the excess dye to disperse instead of settling into fabric.

Additional Edit: If you have a friend who has a large top loading machine, you could also do this in a top loader. The thing is that you have to make sure the "agitation" cycle is never engaged, as this is hard on the quilt. Also, you would have to use long rubber gloves to protect your hands from the hot water, and you would have to be careful to constantly hand agitate the quilt while it is in the water. You do not want any red fabric touching any white fabric for any length of time. The method for doing this is to first fill the top-loader with hot water, add Synthrapol towards the end so it is dispersed, stop the machine, add the quilt, hand agitate, then turn the knob to "spin" to spin out the wash water. Add rinse water, stop the machine, hand agitate, then advance the knob to "spin" to get rid of the rinse water. "Agitate" is really hard on a quilt; "spin" is not.

The advantage to using a top loader is that you might have more water for dispersion of the dye particles. I think it would be a lot harder to do, though, than going to the laundromat. Just make sure that the laundromat has a really big front-loader; I would not use their smaller front-loaders. It's going to cost some dollars too, as those big front loaders take some coins for each washing. The amount of water is a safety factor, though, that is worth the money IMO.
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