MissDee

Hello all -

I just finished a quilt and gave it its first wash. It's browns and golds with a cream background and a dark brown backing. The cream is Moda Bella Solids Snow, some pieces cut from yardage and some from jelly roll strips. I washed it in cold water on delicate with a couple of color catchers, and one of the brown fabrics (I'm guessing it was the backing) bled, turning some of the cream fabric a light pinkish tan. Here's the odd part, though - the yardage was the ONLY fabric that took up the dye; the pieces cut from the jelly roll strips are still the original cream color, even though some of the two are actually side by side.

Have any of you ever had this happen? I'm quite sure that the yardage was really Moda fabric, as I bought it from Hancock's of Paducah (although I did buy it online and not in person).

I tried washing it a second time with 5 more color catchers and a small scoop of OxyClean, but it didn't help. This was going to be a gift for my sister-in-law; not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I'll see what it looks like when it's completely dry and decide if I still want to give it to her. The "new" color isn't awful, it just isn't what I wanted it to be. I just can't figure out why supposedly identical fabric behaved so differently - are the jelly rolls treated in some way to make them easier to cut by machine, or something like that?

I've posted this on another quilt forum to ask the same question, so this may sound familiar to some who (like me) read multiple boards . . . I'm just really curious to find out if anyone else has had this experience.

Prism99

Depending on the manufacturing process, some fabrics pick up color more easily than others.

Instead of color catchers, I use Synthrapol for the first washing of a quilt, using hot water and a large front-loader at the laundromat. Color catchers do not necessarily catch all loose dye particles, especially if there is fabric in the mix that is also good at picking up loose dye. Synthrapol suspends loose dye particles in the water, preventing them from being picked up by fabrics. It won't necessarily protect against a perpetual "bleeder" fabric, but for normal excess dyes in fabrics it has always worked for me.

In my opinion, your best bet is to wash again using Synthrapol and lots of hot water. The dye particles that have settled into your Moda Snow are not permanently set. Permanent setting usually requires a chemical manufacturing process. Although some dyes are heat set, the heat in a domestic dryer is typically not high enough to permanently set dyes. Synthrapol will work at lifting those unset dye particles as well as keeping them suspended in the water to be rinsed away. It can take multiple washings with Synthrapol and hot water to get rid of all the dye bleeds, but it usually works eventually.

What kind of washing machine did you use? Bleeding issues are worse in domestic front loaders because they use so little water. When you have a large dye bleed, such as with backing fabric, there will not be enough water to dilute the bleed. Again, this is why I use a large laundromat front loader for the first wash. Aside from the Synthrapol and hot water, just the fact that there is more water in that first wash helps keep dye bleeds diluted and less likely to be picked up by fabric.

Edit: Most loose dye is caused by the manufacturer not rinsing the fabric well enough. There is excess, loose dye left in the fabric that comes out in the first wash. The occasional perpetual bleeder fabric is caused by a different manufacturing problem, this time with improper setting of the dye. Perhaps the right mix of chemicals wasn't used, or the heat was too low or heat cycle too short. Most likely your backing fabric simply had excess dye in it.

Regarding the Moda Snow, fabrics are not necessarily treated to resist picking up loose dye. A fabric that has not needed to undergo any dying process will be manufactured differently than a fabric that has had a color design transferred to it. The manufacturing steps will be different, and likely the processes needed to secure the colored design to a fabric will also stop the fabric from picking up loose dye.

Sewnoma

I definitely have had one fabric in a wash pick up dye while other fabrics of the same color did not.

I don't have great tips for fixing it - I'm a pre-washer so I tend to catch this stuff early and just get rid of the bleeder. The stained fabric, I just use for test blocks or dog quilts.

MissDee

Thanks for the replies! Prism99, I have a front loader, so that exacerbated the problem. Now I know! This particular quilt taught me several things along the way, and I guess this was its last (very unwelcome) lesson. If I decide to try to rescue it I'll try the Synthrapol; thank you for the suggestion.

Tartan

A while back there was a thread about different whites and how one was treated for dyeing. I wonder if the white that is picking up the dye might be that one.

cindi

Use this method - tried and true. You can’t go wrong with it. https://www.colorwaysbyvicki.com/sav...ing-quilt.html

Maureen NJ

I remember reading here about PFD (Prepared For Dyeing) fabric. I read it with much interest as I had bought some at a LQS, not really knowing what I was getting. It does make it more susceptible to picking up dyes from bleeding fabrics. If you type PFD in advanced search, several threads will come up. Perhaps that is what you got?

Jeanette Frantz

I have no suggestions other than what Prism has already posted. I pre-wash everything. And, I test any colored fabric to make certain it doesn't bleed before I use it. If it bleeds in the testing process, I treat it to "set" the dye. I am so sorry you're having this problem. I hope you can get the excess dye out of the quilt.

JustAbitCrazy

This method worked for me once when I had this problem. It's extreme, but it works. Follow her directions to a "T" and you will have success.

Peckish

I don't think Vicki Welsh's method (nutshell: soak in 140° F water with a dab of Dawn for 12 hours) is any more extreme than washing your fabrics five, six, or seven times. It's actually easier and less wasteful.

Cindi and I took a hand-dyeing class in Houston this year. Here are some things we learned:

1. Dawn dish soap does the exact same thing that Synthrapol does: it suspends the dye in the water and helps prevent the dye from being absorbed by other fabrics. According to several professional hand-dyers ("professional" meaning people buy their hand-dyed producs), Dawn is actually marginally better at it, while also being very affordable and very available, unlike Synthrapol.

2. Color catchers are a waste of money.

3. Be very, very careful when rinsing your hand-dyes out in a hotel bathtub.