HELP any way to salvage my poor DGS quilt
 

I had made my Grandson an American Flag quilt. I had prewashed all the red for the stripes and even pre washed the red flannel for the backing. Was happy with the results for there was not alot of bleeding and figured I was ready to go. I made his quilt and he has been loving it. My DD went and washed it and of course it bled. She took it to the dry cleaners to see if they can come up with a solution and they said they felt it would only be made worse. I feel horrible for the little guy loved it so much. I had used Kona cottons and figured I used the better cottons and less chance of issues. HA Of course this means going to the fabric store again and buying all poly cotton blends to make him another one. ARGH!!

I managed to remove bleeding with Oxyclean on my dark blue quilt (took 3 washes - still slightly viisble, but liveable). Others have said that if you baste colour catchers right over the bleed areas and wash again, that helps. Of course, if it's been through the dryer it's harder. But those are 2 options to try.

rewash it with a couple color catchers- a couple washes may remove what ran...it doesn't really seem to matter what manufacturer the fabrics come from- reds tend to run- especially if warm water was used instead of cold. the grandson probably doesn't mind a bit- i bet he still loves it all the same- as long as the 2 of you are not all negative about it in front of him it's not going to matter one bit- he will continue to love it until it's a rag- and maybe longer than that.

I recommend this product:

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/en...chemicals.html

Ok she posted a pic for me on FB as they are in California and it is not as bad as i thought it would be. I am agreeing with the dry cleaner it looks like the flannel on the back bled for the bleed is too even to be the stripes. I will forward these ideas to her. She did rewash it with 4 dye grabbers and it didnt do the trick but heck she can keep going..lol thank you all!

there are two laundry products that i have used in the past on everyday clothes. these caused bleeding... Tide and Arm and Hammer washing soda. i won't use these products again, especially not on my quilt fabric.

The bleeds are unset dyes. I agree with Feline Fanatic. Wash the quilt in hot water and Synthrapol until all the bleeds are gone. Synthrapol suspends unset dyes in water so the dye particles can be rinsed away. It can take more than one washing in Synthrapol. I would inspect the quilt before drying, and simply re-wash in Synthrapol and hot water as long as bleeds are obvious. This needs to be done in a machine that uses a *lot* of water; a large front-loader in a laundromat would be ideal.

Many quilt shops carry Synthrapol; call and ask. Here is a link to it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Synthrap...dp/B000YZ3UHQ/

I'll bet your grandson doesn't care one way or the other and I'll bet it keeps him just as warm. She should just give it back to him and not worry about the color bleed. Chances are it'll come out eventually anyway. (hubby's whitey tightys went back to white eventually)

Ws it the Kona or the flannel back that bled. Fannel is notorious for bleeding. I have never had Kona cottons bleed very much at all. I don't like to use flannel for this reason.

So sorry for all the work you did and now to do it all over again. Oh well!

peace

I am pretty sure it was the flannel, I had prewashed that too and there was so little on the dye catchers that i figured we were going to be safe, it was not a deep red but more an orange red and he loved it. I have sent all the tips on and she is going to try to wash it again I believe. I feel so bad for my DGS for he is one that knows what he wants and how he wants it, he decided on this as a quilt right before his 8th bday. He is now 9, took me a little while to get it done with my Mom dying of cancer and all. So now back ot hte drawing board and trying to decide do I make the new top the same way and then back it with an off white fabric or go with a poly cotton blend on the top instead of the Konas? Too many decisions!

I would not let hot water near the flannel. I've had good luck with apparel by soaking in Oxiclean.

This is an example of why I've come to believe that wash water and detergent choice affect the release of dye as much as any other issue we know!! I recently washed a quilt at my country cottage with well water, that I had last washed with NO problems years ago in another state, and this time it 'ran'. Go figure.

Jan in VA

I have a red and white quilt and the same happened. I used Oxyclean and it took several washes but it did pull the unwanted color. I did not dry it between washes and just keep doing it again. I think it too 3 washes. I was saved.

I use Tide exclusively and have never had a problem. Did you possibly use the Tide with bleach?

I would not use any poly blends, only Kona or similiar....problem was the silly flannel backing....perhaps find a nice novelty "Americana" print for backing instead of the red flannel......

But first I would try to salvage the original quilt, and I think it can be salvaged. Try Oxyclean and then Synthrapol
the bleeding will stop when it runs out of dye.....

At this time you do not have that much to loose and everything to gain by trying to salvage the original.....:shock:

Always use 1-2-or3 color catchers when washing any and all quilts. They can be used more than once. I don't buy expensive fabric. Cheaper fabrics don't bleed like the more expensive fabrics.

I soak fabrics in separate containers and look at the WATER to see if it has colored.
I keep changing the water until it runs clear (or clear enough) - and if the fabric does not stop releasing dye/color, I discard it.

I had a problem with a washed fabric bleeding when I sprayed it with starch or sizing (don't remember which one it was) - if I remember correctly, they were a dark blue and a dark red RJR fabric

I learned on this list that it's less the problem of a bleeding fabric than the light fabric that absorbs the bleeding. Now I test my light fabrics with the darker fabrics that I want to use to see if the light fabrics absorb color from the darker ones. If they don't, then it's OK.

Thank you everyone for the ideas. She did have 4 dye grabbers in there. She washed it a few times and still has colour left. She was going to try the oxi clean and see what happens but have not found out yet what she was able to do or his reaction. Afraid to ask! My poor DGS is the most honest forgiving child and I am sure he would say it is OK Grandmum didnt know it would happen. I said I would make another as soon as i am caught up on my inventory for show season.