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Originally Posted by cindyw
I found this forum the other day and have been reading here and there and really enjoying it. You guys are great! I hadn't planned on making any posts but I have an emergency.
I moved my sewing room to our basement. I'm in south Texas and basements aren't very common and maybe they don't know to make them here because ours leaks. The hurricane last week (the week before?) gave us appx 6" of rain in a day or two and, of course, the basement leaked. I knew the basement leaks but what I didn't know was the cabinets I had installed on an outside basement wall would let water enter the back of the cabinets. Now about half of my fabric is damp/wet. I didn't discover it until today and it smells but I haven't found any mildew. (BTW, the contractor that installed the cabinets for me is also surprised water got into them and will try to figure out what to do to avoid this in the future.) What do I do??? I know normally when you wash fabric you sew the raw edges but there are literally hundreds of pieces. (I inherited my mothers stash plus what I already had so it's a lot!) Can I wash it without sewing the raw edges? Will it be a big mess? Will it unravel much? Or should I just start sewing, washing and drying? I can't imagine how long that will take but I will do whatever is necessary. Please let me know what you think. Thanks! |
HI Cindy... Your mom and I are probably about the same age.. seems every Judy, Judi, Judie, Judith I hear of are all about my age.. One of those crazy nationwide things..
We had quite a lot of trouble with our basement when we first moved to our home.. we moved from Southern Calif. where there was always a drought going on, to S.W. Missouri where we had water flooding into our home! What a shock! Once you get your fabric taken care of consider doing some hard thinking about how to make and keep that basement dry. We ended up putting a positive drain in.. there was a perferated pipe around the base of the basement wall to catch and drain off any water that came to the wall..The positive drain took the water out to the street.. we also have the piping under the floor, where any water that comes up from under will be carried to the sump pump. Our water came in under the wall and up through the sump pump. We have since also terraced the back yard where alot of the water came from, made sure the guttering took any run off away from the house, and put in a larger capacity sump pump in. We haven't had water in the basement for years now.. but I'm still gun shy and have lots of sleepless nights during the spring rainy season or anytime we have lots of rain. I also run a dehumidifier from early spring until late fall.. Another thing you should consider is bringing your sewing machine(s) upstairs until the basement problem is taken care of. All that moist air is not good for machines. It will ruin them in time. Also bring up any books.. they also draw the moisture out of the air and will mold or just get musty smelling. A LOT of work.. basements are wonderful, I don't think we could live without one now.. but they are a two edged sword, and are always a worry. I wish you strength and stamina, good humor and help. Keep on, you and your stash will get through this! |
For the wet basement part... Kilz and Drylock both make a waterproofing paint, specifically for basements or garages that let water in.
http://www.masterchem.com/masterchem...006b0910acRCRD http://www.ugl.com/drylokMasonry/mas...ofer/latex.php So, I would use one of these on your walls while you are washing all that fabric (with vinegar!!) to prevent it from happening again. Good luck! |
Wash with vinegar and dry. You should be fine. And look at the bright side you won't have to worry about wasing your fabric before you begin a project, it will be done. Wish I could help you.
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Sorry about the flooded basement. I love your quilt! I can't believe how accurately you piece the front and back so that the geometric quilting works perfectly with both sides. Very nice work!
Originally Posted by cindyw
Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and comments! I just put the 16th load in the wash and have over half of it ironed and folded. I do have a front loading machine and the fabric isn't getting too messed up. Some of the fabrics are better quality than others and some of those don't even need to be ironed. I'm sure happy about that!
Some of the fabrics bled onto other fabrics. I'm trying to figure out how to get that out. Does the color catcher (or whatever it's called) pull out that dye? When I'm doing regular laundry and something bleeds I just rewash the discolored items and the second washing takes it all out. A quilt my mom made for me was white with red stars that bled and I just rewashed it immediately and it all came out. However, this mess has been sitting there for over a week. I'm still hoping that's all I have to do. Cross your fingers for me! I always like seeing everyone's quilts in their posts so I'll include these pictures of one of the quilts I just finished for my almost 2 yr old grandson. Front and Back. [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...led-9418-1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y16...led-9414-2.jpg[/IMG] Thanks again! |
This happened to me with Hurricane Gustave, three feet of river water, all my stash in totes on floor and soaked. I lost everything in the house.My friends took my totes, dumped stinking water out, took to landrymat with big washers and threw it in, added color catchers and prayed. Tangles weren't too bad, almost no bleeding(those color catchers really work) and we were able to salvage 98% of fabric!!! Good luck!
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also, put your pieces in a pillow case and follow the above advice. try to hang it all outside on clothes line.
from a Hurricane surviver. |
I love your gs's quilt!! So crisp and bright. I'm so sorry about your basement dilemma! Hope there aren't too many "casualties."
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Once you get eveything clean and fresh smelling, you might want to invest in some plastic storage bags in the future to be safe
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I learned from a quilt class that if you clip the corners of your material it won't ravel in the washer, that would be much easier than sewing the edges. Good luck and move that sewing room back upstairs!
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