Crazy Thought
 

Hi everyone! I’m making a small draggable, droolable quilt for my brand new (and precious!) grand daughter. I have it all planned out and it’s going to be (I hope) adorable. My problem is the flannel colors that I have. I’m going with pastels as opposed to bright. When I put all the fabrics together, it was quite noticeable that I was missing green and orange pastels. The next obvious step was online. Dang! I had a terrible time finding a flannel in pastel orange and green. I did finally find a few greens that work but the only orange I could find was bright.

So here’s my crazy thought… If I take this fabric and add it to a mild bleach solution, will that fade the color? I know too much bleach will weaken the fiber and I don’t want that but I really need a pastel orange. I made a sample daisy using the pastels I have and one of the petals was this orange and it all but came out and smacked me in the face…it’s sooooo orange!

What do I do?

Could you make tea and dye the orange flannel in it to tone the brightness down? My only suggestion.

I don’t think bleach will fade fabric evenly. I believe it would leave splotches of white on creamsicle orange. Are you looking for peach? Maybe a batik would do the trick. Or maybe you have enough pastels without orange. Can you show a picture?

I you really want pastel orange, I would try dying white flannel rather than bleaching darker orange.

Please don't bleach any flannel! However many washings you do the bleach will not wash all the way out, according to my Dr!
I learned this lesson the hard way, don't ask, but it was a painful lesson for me.

Do you really really have to have orange in the quilt? Sounds like it will be plenty cute/adorable without it.

There would be nothing wrong with using cotton for the orange. It is perfectly okay to mix the fabrics and being just a small part of the overall design, would it look odd?

Try searching for " peach" or "apricot" flannelflanne

​​​​​or "creamsicle"

I agree with Dunster - dye white flannel the color you want.

Maybe instead of searching for an orange, search for a peach color instead??

I don't think that bleach is the safe way to go especially for an infant. If the orange is an absolute must for your quilt I would, if you haven't already, go on line and search the different fabric stores. They frequently carry things not available in brick and mortar stores. As mentioned peach is a good alternative. I have a feeling you will be fine without it. Best of luck

Try even more names such as "cantaloupe" or "melon" - although I am not sure what colors melon will bring up.

Consider this fabric


https://www.crafttownfabrics.com/item.asp?sku=0046312

What about using the "back" side of the flannel? Often it is a lighter color in all fabrics.

Orange is a difficult color to find in may shades and coordinate with other fabrics. Try the peach, melon, salmon colors or the best bet may be to change the color palette entirely.

FYI: Hydrogen Peroxide neutralizes bleach, stops the bleaching process. I keep a bottle of it in my laundry room in case I spill any bleach.

I hate the thought of you bleaching fabric and then putting it into a quilt. Please take a picture and post it. You might be seeing a glaring gap in your color story that no one else will notice. Cathie