I was watching Fons and Porter the other day and they were discussing water soluble stabilizers. After you have soaked your item in the water to dissolve away the stabilizer do NOT pour the water down your drains, toilet, etc. It actually refconstitutes itself and will plug up your plumbing. Toss it outside I guess and ruin the planet! :lol: :lol:

I'm sure most of you know this anyway but I was surprised!

I didn't know it. Thanks for the tip!

How cow! Didn't know this, is their a warning on them? Which one did you use and was their a warning. Sould let them know!Thanks for information

I was thinking about buying some. NOW, I think I can sew without it.
Thank you

If you flush toilet paper you don't have to worry about flushing the water from soluble stabilizers. ;-)

It was the guest on the Fons and Porter show that told about this story. She found out the hard way. Apparently it gummed up her plumbing and cost her a fortune to get it fixed.

Another hint was to put a bunch of little pieces of the stabilizer that you had cut off from your project and were too small to use anywhere else into this water. Stir until it is cloudy. Put in fridge (it molds if you don't). Then you can use a paint brush and paint this liquid stabilizer onto the back of your fabric and let dry.

I don't use this stuff so don't know any more than I'm telling now. I just thought it was kind of interesting.

I think about this kind of stuff a lot. I try not to use things where I have to throw something away. I do not like spray baste for this reason. I avoid chemicals as much as possible. Fusing has been my biggest grapple. It is so darn easy.

the culture of quilting has changed so much, but hopefully the essence is the same.

You learn something new every day in your life.
I'm glad you posted this I was going to buy some.
Thanks.

Thanks in advance. I just bought some water soluble stabilizer to use on a project TODAY! Talk about timing!

To remove the WSS I always used a scrap of fabric and a steam iron.
place the fabric over the item and them use lots of steam.
the WSS will dissolve and adhere to the scrap.
Or use a towel then just throw in the wash.
the washer uses enough water that the concentration is diluted no fear of hurting the pipes!
used this for years for machine embroidery and lace

I thought they were just talking about being careful with the stabilizer water in the jar, because it was highly concentrated, and that was why it could clog a drain :wink:

I don't think it is a problem, if you use the WSS in the way they were originally intended to be used :D:D:D

I think this is just a warning from a concern, but I don't see how it could be a problem. If you pour the water down the toilet, don't you continue to flush the toilet several times a day every day? How can it reconstitute? Same thing with the sink. You wash your hands, do the dishes, wash again, no time for it to reconstitute before is flushed all the way down to the sewage or your septic system. I guess if you pour tons and tons of it, like if you were using it commercially, it may be a concern, but personal use every once in a while is not a big concern. I rather dump it down the sewage that out into the outdoors. I have been using this for years and never had a single problem with my pipes. Ten years I had a septic system and for the last year with sewage, and never had a clogged drain. My two cents.

From what I can find online the soluble stabilizers are non toxic. Spray the quilt with a water hose outside.

Interesting. I had never heard that. Thanks for the heads up.

Reminds me of what we were told in painting class. I took acrylic classes at a woman's home and she refused to let us dump our pots of water into her drains. She'd been teaching many classes a week for years and had painted herself for years in that same house. One day they had plugged drains. Seems the paint had built up and built up to the point of clogging. You just have to use the same pot for a while and you see it building up on the sides if you don't scrub the paint off. I can imagine the stabilizer does the same thing. I recommend following the advice...dump it in a corner of your yard...maybe eventually you'll have a piece of "modern art" built up in the corner!!!!!!:)

The story about the woman's plumbing being ruined by water soluble stabilizer has been floating out there for more than 10 years.

Water soluble means just that...it dissolves when suspended in water. When you rinse out the stabilizer it goes through your pipes into waste lines that take it to the sewer system or septic tank. It will not "reconstitute" inside your plumbing.

Non-water soluble mixtures can, over time, cause plumbling problems. Acrylic paint, bacon grease, cooking oil are all examples of mixtures that are not water soluble. They can and will coat the inside of the pipes and eventually cause the pipes to clog.

Please don't worry about using water soluble stabilizer. ;)

Actually this wasn't a story. I saw the woman herself tell about it and it was HER plumbing. Many things can build up in your pipes and eventually clog it.

Don't want to start a problem here. Just wanted to be clear that this info wasn't from an email or anything. I never believe anything that comes from emails being sent around.