Jane Quilter

what is a water soluble pencil? please elaborate.

zozee

I'm so, so sorry, Jane. What a heartbreaking discovery that your labor of love had been (temporarily) ruined by something you thought safe. I can only imagine the gasp, the panic, the "words" said (or thought) that would make nuns shudder, and some tears. All of the above?

I've read quite the gamut of possible solutions here, and had to chuckle at your hubby's comment about these cleaning products costing more than the quilt! I'm so glad you've found something that is working--with plenty of elbow grease, but still--it's progress and a HUGE relief to see positive results.

I've been using chalk pencils (can't remember the brand). One's grey, one's white. Is there any reason to be afraid that they're unsafe? My thinking is "it's just chalk" but then again, when some people have had trouble with blue pounce chalk not coming out, it makes me suspicious of everything.

The best testimonials --for the Crayola Ultra Clean markers--have convinced me of what to stock up on.

One thing's for sure: after bonding so much with this quilt, it will be your favorite for life!

Jane Quilter

That I have bonded with the quilt is an understatement. The sad thing was, it was made for my daughter who wanted a red and white quilt to go with her son's red sock monkey quilt (some of the monkey fabrics are in this quilt too). When she lived in Texas she had a a very large master bedroom with a baby/crib nook built in...so she wanted them to "match", and complained everything was too small. She wanted an extra large king size quilt. Ha. Now she lives next to me in Virginia, and she now has a new baby girl. (Yes, she makes babies faster than I can make a quilt). Well, I can't give her this now, and truly her needs have changed anyway. So guess I am stuck with this for life, which is not so bad. It is a scrap quilt and there are many memories woven in that no one else would care about.

Jeanette Frantz

Be careful on dishwasher detergent - that stuff has bleach in it (some of it does).

Jeanette

granny216

Darn, I love to quilt and purchased a whole set of these Frixion pen and you can be sure I am going to try to really remove all the ink though I don't make quilts for show now but it would be awful for me to use them and then try to remove the stains. Have a thought and will try it in Sept. as I am just too busy now to end of August. Thank you for all the posts. Will let you know if my methods work because I won't use them if I can' get the stain out. I've always used the blue water removable ones for marking. I'm going to try them on white fabric.

Jeanette Frantz

I have found a LOT OF RED FABRICS will bleed rivers! Cold water will not "set" the dye. I found a product online, Rit Laundry Treatment a dye fixative) and I swear by it. I ALWAYS CHECK FABRIC, particularly those with vibrant colors. I've even had some deep blues also bleed. I ALWAYS WASH MY FABRIC, and check for bleeding BEFORE I cut out my quilt. Granted, I am a "Rank Amateur", but I found this out, thanks to my cousin who has a quilt shop and carries quilting fabrics. So, if I'm using a red (which I'm making a red and white quilt right now) I automatically treat the fabric with the Rit Dye Fixative product, and, since discretion is the better part of valor, I will also use color catchers when I wash this one (I'm finally doing a quilt for myself).

Jeanette

Jane Quilter

I have both products you mention. The quilt is so big (125" x 125") it won't fit in the washer. In which order to you recommend. The color catcher first, then the Ritz? All this srubbing (with warm wwater) has bleed some red, but not much....I can live with the red bleed, just not the blue bleed. But I am almost done. Shall I soak it in the bathtub? If so, again in what order? Thanks for you help.

Peckish

Exactly what I was going to say. I was horrified to see that someone had recommended this as a treatment. I'm rather late to this thread and was praying this advice had gone unheeded!

The marks from a water soluble pencil will dissolve in water. You can find them in quilt shops. They are designed specifically for this application - marking quilting lines and then disappearing. As with all new products, test on scraps before proceeding, and make sure you retain the package's instructions for how to remove that particular product. I've known many a quilter who assumed that since one product disappears with an iron, they use it for another product, which unfortunately sets permanently with heat.

Jane Quilter, I'm very happy and relieved that you found something that will remove the markings! Make sure you post a photo of your quilt when you're done, we'd all love to see it.

feline fanatic

I would only use a dye fixative BEFORE the fabric was sewn into the quilt. Once in the quilt do not use any fixatives as you stand a good chance of setting the bleed. Follow the directions in Margaret Solomen Gunn's blog post. This method has been successful for several national quilt show winners as well as hand dyers who have had quilts bleed.

Jane Quilter

Ok, just for information, the qwikgo is only sold to laundry professionals it says at wilsons website in the safety data sheet.....but I found a tailors catalog that sells it (where I bought it years ago) here it is: http://www.hammerbrothers.com/pdf/catalog2015.pdf
notice there is an ink remover right next to it on page 19. this is what dry cleaners use to get out spots when you take your clothes to them.