I am so upset, went to get out my newly finished top and unfolded it and found the blue dmc embroidery thread must have got wet and bled into my top. Now what do I do.

Jane in Florida

Oh my! Can just thread do that? I will be watching the answers I hope you get.

I'm so sorry that happened

If it hasn't set too long, maybe you can rinse and rinse and rinse and maybe some of it will come out

I had a blue Pigma pen ink bleed into other parts of my quilt - I was told I was SUPPOSED to have heat set it before washing. But it had been on there for over a week when I washed it.

:( What about one of those new "stain pens" like Tide makes?? So you could just go over the new stains...?
Try for colorfast on scrap first, but think it should work...Those stain sticks are wonderful...

Good Luck!! :lol:

I bought a commercial made quilt at a thrift store that the thread had bled and I removed all of the thread and used a clorox pen on the white fabric. It came out pretty well.

I don't know what it's called because I haven't used it, but there is supposedly some kind of sheet tht you put in the washer, and it collects all that color. I don't remember where I read it (either in this quilt group or one of two others that I'm in), but the person that uses it puts a few sheets in at a time, and has never had a problem with colors bleeding. I wonder if that would work for it. Worth a try. I iwll see if I can find that post. I just saw it not even a week ago.

EDITED TO ADD: Shout Color Catchers: http://www.shoutitout.com/preserve-colors.aspx

Even better than the color catcher sheets would be washing the quilt with Synthrapol. This suspends unset dye particles in the wash water so they can be rinsed away.

If the color catcher sheets don't work, try Synthrapol. Sometimes you have to wash several times with Synthrapol to get all of the bled dye out. Whatever you try, don't dry the quilt in the dryer unless all of the bleed is gone; you don't want to inadvertently heat-set the bleed.

Synthrapol is available in many quilt stores, especially those that cater to dyers. It is not expensive.

So sorry about your mishap, Grandma's stain remover works wonders, takes out all the stains I have ever used it on. Even the ones that have been set by drying. Most quilt stores have it also craft stores. It's amazing.

It's going to be hard to remove the stain unless you remove the floss first. If whatever you use removes the dye from where you DON'T want it, it will probably also remove the dye from where you DO want it, the floss itself. Was it all the blue floss, or just in one area? I have heard that cream of tartar will remove rust and dye stains from fabric. Never tried it though. Do a Google search to get more info.

I am so sorry to hear about your quilt. I haven't embroidered or used floss in years....I would have thought they would have taken care of this problem by now :? :? I hope that you can get those stains out :(

If none of the stain removal tips work, would you be able to applique over the affected areas?

Anxiously waiting to hear what success you have with removing the blue dye.

What it new floss? I am afraid to try embroidering after hearing that? What brand did you use?

wish I knew what to tell you, hope you find some way to save it!

The only suggestion I had was the color catchers...I sure hope you can save it...just makes you almost sick to your stomach doesn't it?? I'm so sorry it happened to you.

I love to embroider...actually, just getting back into it...but, as much as this is not our favorite part of quilting...it is reccommended that you wet embroidery flosses...rinse in warm water, and roll in paper towels, to see if it bleeds, and press with a warm iron. geesh...how much time would we save, if we could just buy our stuff, hop on and go....

I havent tried anything yet cause I didnt quilt it yet and the quilt marks will disappear if i try washing it. I am going to look at it tomorrow and see how much time and effort it will take to take the threads out use a clorox pen and see if I can white it out so to speak. It really upset me because it was for my only grandaughter for her birthday and I had spent so much time on it and you all know how it would feel. I know now it wont be done on time. I used brand new DMC from joanns for this project and have 5 quilts made the same way by my mom and wash them all the time and never had them run and she always used DMC. I could understand the fabric bleeding but the thread.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and i will definitely try some or all of them i'm sure.

Jane in Florida

That is so sad. My only suggestion would be the color catcher sheets that have been mentioned before. Maybe it was just a bad batch of embroidery floss.

I haven't used it before but others I know have, but how about a toothbrush and Oxyclean?

After looking again at the quilt if i take out the thread and try to wash the dye out all the little dots for the quilting will come out then I wont know where to quilt so I am going to quilt it as is and then try to remove it with those color catcher sheets. I am too new a quilter to try and remember where to quilt so I really need those dots. I also noticed that some of the dots disappeared so I am wondering if some of the stain is from that and if it is it may wash out. I will just have to suck it up and just finish it and she will some day laugh with me about it I hope.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Jane in Florida

I had not known that some embroidery floss was not color fast.

Thanks for the tip about wetting it and ironing it - never thought that would be necessary

I would not use a Clorox pen on the fabric if it is a bleach pen. The bleach will weaken the fibers where it is applied. The fabric will appear fine for awhile, but eventually holes will develop in those areas.

Embroidery floss is similar to fabric in that the dyes may not all be set. Excess dye -- beyond what could be chemically set into the material -- is what you see when it bleeds or "crocks". Crocking is where dye rubs off onto something else even when there is no water present. Basically the manufacturers super-saturate the floss with dye, then subject it to chemicals and/or heat to "set" the dye. If they don't rinse the floss or fabric afterwards, whatever dye the chemicals didn't set will be excess.

Your mother's quilts may have done the same thing but, because they were washed in quite a bit of water the first few times, the bleed would have been so diluted by the wash water it would not be noticeable and the excess dye would have gone down the drain with the wash water. The reason you are having this problem is because the floss got wet and then was in direct contact with fabric. There wasn't enough water to dilute it, and the dye settled in the fabric rather than going down the drain with wash water.

I think you have a good chance of getting rid of the bleed by washing in Synthrapol when the quilt is finished. Most dyes these days are set by chemicals and/or heat. I woud just be careful to keep the unfinished quilt out of direct sunlight; you don't want it heating up before you have a chance to wash it.

Thanks for the advice. As I said, I am going to finish it and then see what I can do. I dont think I have any way of getting that Synthrapol cause I dont have any local quilt shops here in my area of Florida all I have is a joanns. Is it expensive? Where else may I obtain some? Thanks for your advice.

Jane in Florida

Before it became available in local quilt shops, I used to purchase it online from http://www.dharmatrading.com . However, these days, it may be cheaper to buy it from Amazon. I just checked and Amazon has both the 4-oz and 16-oz bottles. Shipping is about the same cost on each, so I'd get the 16-oz. With shipping, it's under $12 total.

Thanks for the help, I will try it the quilt is worth it to me

Jane

WOW! I feel your pain. I had no idea today's embroidery floss could do that. What brand was it? I hope some of the suggested remedies work for you.

i've never used dmc, only c & c. is this a problem with all their colors?

i have 75-year old pure linen embroidered tablecloths that have never run. should i be looking at this more carefully?

(p.s. for you younger members, a quilt or tablecloth made by a mother or mother-in-law 75 or even more years ago is not that unusual, even though it sounds ancient. i have an embroidery made by my then 13-year old grandmother in europe. she was a terrible embroiderer.)

I would be devistated too. I emailed the DMC company. I am doing a red work quilt and want to know if something that can be done before and also if there is anything that you can do for your quilt now that it has gotten wet.

Jane
When I read your post about the "dots" for quilting, it reminded me of some embroidery that I had done, using DMC, for a quilt top. On my FIRST one, I got part of it wet somehow, probably from my water bottle, and ended up with what looked like a splotch of blue thread that "ran" and paniced immediately -- but it was just the dye in the embroidery panel when it was wet. Since it's supposed to come off, it doesn't take much for it to come off, even sweaty hands can do it. Once I washed it, it was perfectly fine, as all the residue of the pre-marking came off. Since the area where your thread is located would be on top of a pre-marked line, are you certain that it is from the thread and not from the marking underneath the thread? If this is a possible cause, I'd go ahead and quilt it, wash it with a color-catcher, and it might be just perfect. If not, then you could try the suggested remedies.

I discovered that Presencia floss will not bleed or rub off color. It cost more but that is the reason, it's quality floss. Anyone who has had the same experience like Jane would certainly think it was worth the few extra cents. Floss is the least expensive item in sewing that I can think of so buy the best. :D

my mother-in-law did a banquet size cloth in coats. she ran out of black and finished with dmc. over the years the dmc faded to brown, but never bled.