Cleaning a Quilt
 

About 8 years ago I was given the pleasure of hand quilting a quilt top that my great grandmother had appliqued beautiful flowers on. Well its been a slow and steady process and its finally done. (at the time I received it I had only been quilting for about 6 months.)
Now the reason for the post. It needs to be cleaned.
There are a few spots on it and there are also little blue dots to mark the quilting design.
My problem is the appliqued flowers on it are very dark red,blue and yellow and dark green leaves.
I am afraid of having a pink quilt when I'm done.Any suggestions would be helpful.

I know Orvus paste is very good and very gentle on quilts, but I don't know if it would solve the possible fading and bleeding problem. Maybe a "dye grabber' washed with it. I buy Orvus paste at a local store that sells products for livestock. It is designed to clean horses and horse blankets. Some quilt stores sell it too, but much cheaper, by the gallon or quart at a livestock place. Maybe someone else has another idea about the bleeding problem. Good luck and Congrats on getting it done.

Use 2-3 Shout Color Catchers in the washer....find them at the grocery store.

Jan in VA

I agree with Jan about the color catchers. I wash mine in my washer, only agitate for a few minutes after it has soaked about 10 minutes. I don't use very much soap and use Downy fabric softener. I push the quilt up and down with my hands to get all soap out. I wash in warm water and rinse in cold and dry on low temp. This is how I wash all my quilts.

I did everything these ladies did while washing, but then put it in the dryer....DON'T do that. The colors bled in the dryer. I went from white to pink. I haven't found a way to get that much pink out so have decided that I love pink. But the next dark colors with white or beige will be hung in the sun to dry. Now...where am I going to get a clothesline from????

Thanks so much. I did contact a quilt restorer and he also said not to dry it. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll let you know.