Have you ever had your fabric to totally change colors? I just finished an Around the World for my husbands volunteer fire dept. All I like is the border which is going to be a strip of black, a strip of red and another strip of black. I bought my black at Wal-mart (they didn't have any broadcloth) and it was REAL black, so I thought just maybe I should wash this first. I did and it came out brown! I would have been really mad if I had not washed it first. Today I went to Hobby Lobby, almost 40 miles away to get some black broadcloth.

Yikes. :( I have gotten a few things from walmart but I have never had good luck so I do no not anymore. So sry that yours changed color!!!

get kona black...

Wal-mart, (unfortuneately), buys their fabric as ends of line runs, or from sources that don't treat the fabrics with all the chemicals that help them to be colorfast... which is why they can charge less for the fabric. You might try and buy a package of rit dye in black and re-dye your fabric. :hunf:

Take it back to Wal-mart and get you money back.

Some manufacturers use different mixtures of colors to produce black. You never can be sure what blend happened to be in that batch. Just curious, what kind of detergent were you using? I'm another Kona fan for solids. It goes on sale often enough that it is affordable.

Kona is fabulous. I agree --- if you don't want to mess around trying to re-dye it... take it back to wal-mart. :mrgreen:

Guess that is a good reason to pre wash your fabric! I got Kona for my first quilt and it washed perfectly!

I only use Kona Black too, but I have heard even with Kona you can get different grades of fabric. So far so good for me.

Black is one of the hardest fabrics. Hard to sometimes find a true black, and the fading/bleeding issues.
I use the Kona blacks now and I quit buying any other brands. :D:D:D

What about the Amish Black from Keepsake? Does that have issues?

One thing you might try on any dark fabric is to give it a vinegar bath/soak and then wash and dry it. Vinegar helps to set the color.

What about the vinegar smell after the bath/soak?

I LOVE the Amish black from Keepsake!!!!! It is a deeper black then anything else I've ever used and it is colorfast. Best of all, it's only $6 a yard. 8-)

If it's washed and rinsed thoroughly it shouldn't have an odor. I'd wash it a couple of times to make sure the vinegar is out as that acid could break down the fabric if not all washed out.

Tiffany;

Thanks, I've been wanting to order some so now I know. Chris

I use Kona cotton and have never had that problem. You are right, thank goodness you didn't use it before washing.

I have bought Tons of fabric from Wal Mart and never had any fade or change colors. I always wash and dry fabrics from anywhere before I use it. Vinegar should work and once it is dry you should not smell it, I would maybe rinse it twice but, not wash twice. Same as using bleach on your clothes once it is dry there shouldn't be any smell. I have been with quilting for about 44 yr.s

Modern dyes are not affected one way or another by vinegar. Vinegar is a mordant for some organic dyes. Modern dyes are not organic, they're chemical.

With grocery store vinegar it's not possible to have a high enoungh concentration of vinegar to do any harm to fabric. Grocery store vinegar is already only a 5% or 3% solution of vinegar.

Adding vinegar to the final rinse in a load of clothes will kill the detergent suds and help rinse the detergent out without adding the fats of fabric softener.

Retayne in a fabulous color setter, made esp. to set dye. Find it at your LQS, or on line. I't very inexpensive and works. :thumbup:

I use Kona cloth in black whenever I can.

Good idea.

Somewhat related to this subject...I heard that with the black thread you buy (the cheaper brands) that it is the thread that was originally different colored and they re-dye it to black at the end of the run so it does not go to waste. Makes you wonder what will happen to the thread you use if you buy it at Walmart.

The thread at WalMart is Coats and Clarks.

I was told that they are one of the manufacturers that does the dye over, I can't prove it, just heard it and thought I would put the info out there.

This is the reason I use polyester black. It does not fade. Frankly, I like the sheen of poly. Hope none of those who are dyed-in-the-wool (pardon the pun)cotton promoters have had a heart attack by my comment! But I do think poly still has a place, even in a quilt. Only rarely have I had problems with the fabrics I buy at WM. Like everywhere, you have to look at the quality of what you select.

Absolutely agree with you. Took a class on thread the other day and the lady knew her threads and said there is nothing wrong with using poly thread. She uses all kinds. The thing to remember I guess is that you use the same weights in the bobbin and top.

I am sooo happy to hear that about the thread!! I've suffered in silence using poly thread and I couldn't see what difference it would make. Thanks. I'm no longer a Purist! LOL

I too would take it back.

wash it again to see if it bleeds anymore, then maybe you can repurpose it for something your learning! just trying to think positive and turn a lemon into lemonade! I have had ithat happen too and i learned a long time ago to wash fabrics SEPERATELY or at least with something that i dont care about, like towels. lol

I have heard this from several different sources before but couldn't remember "why" the vinegar didn't work on todays dyes. Thank you!


If you ever take a class on threads, the one thing they say is to never use Coats & Clark thread. And if you use DMC floss or another type of cross-stitch type thread, you should rinse it to get all the excess dye out of the threads before embellishing your quilt with them.

The problem with poly thread being used with cotton is because the poly is so much stronger than cotton. This mainly applies to applique. There is a very good chance that over the years the poly thread will rub against the cotton fabric and actually end up cutting it, which is not what you want after spending forever and a day applying all that applique to a quilt. I've seen a quilt where this happened and it was sad. Now I have to say the quilt was about 30 years old, but I make my quilts to last and I honestly don't want to have to redo the quilt after I've done it once. JMO.

If you can find Blank fabric their black and red are wonderful. If you buy off one bolt and off another bolt, the color will still be the same.

Now that is a good dye lot!

Blank's solids are not over dyed. So they can regulate the exact color in their printing runs.

Many company's "solids" are the fabric that was used during first runs, printed to check for motif detail alignment, correct coloring of designs, etc. during the printing process, but aren't used for final production. Some gets sent back to the designer for approval at various stages.

When enough test runs have accumulated, it is over-dyed with black and sold.

If you do discharging of black (and some other dark) fabrics, you never know ahead what you'll get showing when the over-dye is removed. Art quilters love this.