Fading quilt fabric....
#4
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
Vinegar does not set modern chemical dyes. Retayne does. Quilt shops that cater to dyers stock Retayne; otherwise it is widely available online from places such as Dharma Trading and ChemPro.
Here's a link to a thread where I posted about this in more detail:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-38464-2.htm
Here's a link to a thread where I posted about this in more detail:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-38464-2.htm
#5
I second the Retayne. Its amazing stuff and doesn't take much. I used it once on a baby quilt (purple fading and the quilt was a white background), its been washed over and over and the purple still hasn't faded. (I pre-washed with it). Now everytime I finish a quilt, the first time thru the wash, it gets Retayne.
#8
I use Retayne to sotp any fading of colors. It really makes a difference. Yes, you can use it after the fabric has been washed and dried. I have had some fabrics that i treat twice before I use them.......just to be safe. I love batiks and hand dyes but sometimes, especially if it is a dark color, they will need to be treated twice.
#9
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
Originally Posted by Rachel
I second the Retayne. Its amazing stuff and doesn't take much. I used it once on a baby quilt (purple fading and the quilt was a white background), its been washed over and over and the purple still hasn't faded. (I pre-washed with it). Now everytime I finish a quilt, the first time thru the wash, it gets Retayne.
I do always give my quilts a first wash in Synthrapol (especially because I do not usually prewash fabrics). Synthrapol suspends unset dye particles in water so they can be washed away without settling into another fabric.
Retayne is really intended to set dyes in fabric. If you use it in a quilt with a "bleeder" fabric it will not only set the dye in the bleeding fabric, it will also set any unwanted bleeds into the other fabrics.
My bet is you have been lucky so far, as Retayne won't do any harm in a quilt if no fabric bleeds.
It's perfectly safe to use Retayne to set dyes in individual fabrics, or in a group of like-colored fabrics.
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