Help! Color bleeding!
 

I am about one third of the way through hand quilting a large (100x100) Dresden plate. I have been marking each block as I go and spraying with water to remove the markings. Yesterday when I did this the color from the brick red sashing (yes, I did prewash) bled into the cream colored background of the block next to it. Is there any solution for this? Is there a product that will remove the unwanted color? Can a quilt that is only part way quilted even be washed? Should I just pick out the quilting and replace the spoiled blocks? What would you do?

You can try Grandma's Spot Remover or syntrapol on the stains. I wouldn't wash the quilt yet - you'll have a real mess on your hands then. There's a chance that when you are done and was the quilt with color catchers, all the stains will disappear.

I would also try using distilled water or bottled water to spritz the quilt - or try it on a scrap of the red and see what happens. Different water sources will react differently to the fabric.

Janet

I rewashed a couple pieces of yardage yesterday and used color catchers. I spilled some Sprite on it. More color came out. I've got other pieces of yardage in the wash now and more color came out. Glad I washed them and threw couple white terry towels in the mix along with more color catchers. This last load, the towels help absorb the bleed. The colors I spilled the Sprite on were red and black. The black bled onto the red and the red was a blue red but you could still see a bit of black. I went to the dollar store and bought some large white towels to help absorb the color. Helps. I wash in hot water throw into a hot dryer.

This post is from several years ago, but it has lots of suggestions and the best part is the OP was able to fix the problem.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...x-t144836.html

The quilt police beware...I took a q-tip,slightly moistened in peroxide,and dabbed it on a similar problem...rinsed carefully with a little water....wouldn't do it to a vintage quilt tho.

Definitely read the thread that PaperPrincess posted. Wait until the quilt is finished, then wash the entire quilt. Instead of a bath tub, which is hard on the back, you can use a large top-loading washing machine; just be sure to stop the machine so you can hand agitate (do not allow machine agitation) in-between filling with water and Synthrapol and spinning to remove water.

Not the quilt police but unless you want your quilt ruined I wouldn't use any peroxide. You can read Leah Day's story here. Scroll to the bottom where it says Update Spring 2012

http://www.leahday.com/quilttheduchess/

OMG. I just went to that website and read the update. I will NEVER use peroxide on fabric again!!!

I threw the peroxide out of my house! Yikes!

Yeah peroxide has similarities to bleach in how it reacts, how awful for her

A product like this is excellent whenever a bit of fabric runs!

Part of my dilemma is that I have months if not a year's worth of work left to do on this quilt. Everything I have read about stain removal recommends dealing with it as soon as possible. Yet washing it before I finish quilting seems like I will have a mess on my hands. I think I am talking myself into replacing the blocks.

I would try spot removing the bleed first, then remove the blocks if that doesn't work. Grandma's Spot Remover is available at Joann's, and some local quilt stores, as is Synthrapol. You have nothing to lose and it might work. I'm sorry this happened to your quilt, and I hope you find a good solution for it.

Janet