I 'wash' tested the Crayola pictures.
 

When I posted my ‘Pinklet’ quilt http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...h-t183969.html I had some questions about how the crayola pictures would wash. I was not too concerned about that with this quilt because it is going in a guest room and will not get a great deal of washing. However, I just did a baby quilt this way (What was I thinking?) and wondered how well it would wash. I made a couple of sample crayon ‘pictures’ and as I was doing some laundry anyway, I just thru the samples in with the loads I was doing.
Here are my results.

I think that if I were to use this technique again, I would color a test picture on the fabric that I intend to use and wash it a few times to see what happens.

My flash did not go off in the second picture. That's why it's so 'yellowy'

Wow - thank you for the tips! My GDs want me to use this technique for them so you helped me immensely!

The great thing is that you can always recolor.

thanks for the info.....

Thanks so much for the info and testing!

Great info, thanks.

good to know, as the color quilts are really not meant to be washed! Did you heat set the crayon first? Was this done on prewashed, treated fabric? So many variables in "testing" things like this.

I wanted the 'worst' case scenario and I used fabric straight off the bolt. I did heat set the crayons between 2 paper towels to remove excess wax. As I suggested, if you are making a 'crayola' quilt, it would be best to do a test on the fabric you will be using to make sure it will stand up to what you plan to do with it.

Thank you so much for the info. You did us all a service by testing the colors. I am intersted in creating a quilt of my great grandchildren's art work for their parents and this is useful information.

If you're truly doing "worse case scenario" ... then do it with hot hot water ... and hot hot dryer!
Yes, the plan is always TLC .... then there's those accidental times when OOOPS! the washer/dryer doesn't get re-set and we don't realize it, until it's too late!

Wow! This is important to see. Always test is what I've learned today.

wonderful...thanks for sharing!

Good thing to know. Thanks!

Thanks for posting this. Testing is such a sensible thing to do and the more rigorous the better. I picked up 2 bundles of offcuts/scraps/samples from a curtain store yesterday, have peeled off the paper/stickers and currently testing them to the max. Intend to make a throw/quilt (not sure yet) for an armchair....just to protect the leather from the lounging hounds:)

I made a Raggedy Ann and Andy quilt that we colored some of the blocks but the grandkids said that they were hard to color. Never thought to put them on freezer paper. I tried again on an old hankie that I was using for a prayer shawl and by accident I started to color the hankie when the fabric was still warm from pressing. The color went on much brighter and easier. I then pressed it with paper towels. The colors seemed to stay after washing but I didn't use bleach. Will warm the fabric first on my next project.

Great tip, Patski! I will try that next time!

if you let anything dyed, painted or colored cure, it stays in better. The minimum is 10 days and of course you always use prewashed or some of your color goes out attached to the sizing.

I love using crayons for blocks for my quilts. So fun. And you can have grandchildren make blocks each year and make them into a quilt

Before you washed, did you heat set the crayoned areas using a hot dry iron & paper towels (to absorb the wax)?

I am in the process of doing a crayola quilt for my great nephew. Thanks sew much for the information and tips. Really appreciate it.

Yes, I did heat set the crayon and some of the colored wax comes off so you need the paper toweling.

I've bookmarked this for reference. Thanks for taking the time for this test.

I'm behind on the QB but in our quilting meeting just last week, we were crayoning. Felt like a child again. This technique seems to be quite popular now. Haven't tried washing the design I crayoned last week yet. Next step!

thanks for the info.

Thanks! That's helpful information!

I don't want to sound critical, but I've never used paper towels for the heat setting. I've used wax paper between the colored fabric and the pressing cloth with towels underneath. The extra wax comes off on the wax paper and the crayon is set in the fabric.
I have had good luck with it washing in regular detergent. I'm not a bleach kind of gal. I've ruined too many things with bleach.

I've never tried doing a Crayola quilt, but this is nice information for when I get ready to make one. Thank you for being our "testing" laboratory.

Thank you for showing us.

Kat

Thanks for the valuable info. I was wondering about this.

Thanks for doing that test and sharing the results! This is going on my long and ever increasing "things to do" list.

have you tried , putting wax paper down on crayon side and ironing it , it will set the colors

Just recently I have found sites where folks are melting the crayons and rubbing or painting them on the heated fabric...very cool effects! Up til now I have only done crayon directly on fabric, or heat transferred some of my DD childhood drawings. It's fun to play around for different effects.

Thanks for sharing your tips! :)

Great! I learned something new and I love that and I love the Quiltingboard! Thank you for posting!

Very interesting. One of the ladies in our guild did a quilt with a bunch of cats colored with crayons and then embroidered with plaid designs. It was the cutest thing! I wondered how the crayon colors would hold up, but I guess it will be just fine.