Fading
 

Do any of you do "fade" tests on your fabrics before using them in a project?

I think Harriet Hargrave had something about light fading in one of her books - but I don't have a direct reference to it.

I have a quilt made from blues and tans - some of the fabrics look almost as bright as when they were new- but one of the navy blues has faded so much that it is barely recognizable as having had a navy background.

Is there any way to predict which fabrics will fade out and which ones will stay bright?

(I'm not talking about bleeding or excess dye.)

i finally surrendered a few years ago and started pre-washing.
now i also grudgingly spend the $$$ on color catchers.
that isn't a fail safe way to check for, or predict, fading but it helps.

otherwise they only way i can think of - other than a crystal ball - would be to expose small pieces to various lighting conditions for an extended period of time.

if i did that, the quilt would never get made.

so i roll the dice like "it's Vegas, Babybee."

I think Harriet Hargrave did some light exposure tests - but I don't have enough patience for that.

What convinced you to start washing your fabrics before cutting them?

i noticed that the colors in some expensive fabrics i'd purchased had rubbed off on each other while they were in the drawer waiting to be used.
also a quilt i'd made turned into a multi-color camouflage during the first wash.

most of the time now i prewash before i put new fabrics away. it's a pain in the sitter but i don't worry about rub-off or bleeding anymore.

never had either of those problems when i shopped exclusively discount fabrics.

ironic. lol

if the fading is due to light exposure, then I think that’s something that is hard to predict, unless you know the specific dyes that were used, how the fabric and dyes were prepared, type of light exposure etc. You can do light exposure tests for all your fabrics, but those take time, requiring the samples to be exposed to direct sun for weeks to months to get clear results. There are so many different ways to make individual colors and to get that color on fabrics that it would be difficult to generalize based on the hue alone, without actually testing.

Rob

I always wash first with a color catcher.

I wash all my fabrics and fold over my ruler. I use 2 or 3 color catchers until they start falling apart. I buy fabrics from Wal Mart or Hobby Lobby mostly. I never buy expensive fabrics. Never have any problems fading nor bleeding.