plays10s

Hi - I've never messed up a quilt before in my life. I hope someone can help me. This man gave me a quilt that his mom had quilted. It is bright red and yellow with a light blue border. It was very wrinkled as it had been stored a while. I was going to steam iron it so I could put it on the longarm machine. When I was putting water into my iron, some dripped on the quilt, plus with me trying to steam iron it, the red began to bleed onto the yellow and blue. I read the "Save my Bleeding Quilt", but I'm afraid to put the whole customer quilt into hot water and Dawn. I was wondering if I can just put the area that is bleeding into cold water and Dawn. Will that work? Hot water scares me. I'm so anxious about this. Thanks for any help you can give me.
LaDonna

lscho4jm

Following to learn

ibex94

I suspect the red is going to bleed no matter what if the quilt is that old because of how they made fabrics back in the day.

Quiltwoman44

Oh my, i hope someone comes up with something to save your day! and quilt. so sorry.

Peckish

The problem with keeping part of the quilt out of the water is the water is going to wick into the rest of the quilt anyway.

Your best bet is to tell the customer what happened. You HAD to press it because it was unquiltable in the condition it was in when he gave it to you. While pressing, some of the colors bled. Tell him you can either give it back to him, or you can attempt to fix the bleeder yourself. He should understand the risks 100% before giving you any kind of direction. He should also understand what the process is for fixing the bleed and give his okay for that. I also think if he has you do this work, you should charge him for it.

If he DOES give you permission to try and fix the bleeder, come back and let us know, we'll help you. I've done it several times. So far have only had one quilt that didn't rinse completely clear, and it was because I tried to fix the bleed after it was quilted.

Jo Anne B.

Two weeks ago, I went through a similar scenario with purple. The quilt was a gift for a GF 90+ yo DM. I never did get the bleed completely removed. I feel your anguish!
I was doubly perplexed as only one fabric (QSQ) picked up the bleed and would hardly let go of it. I soaked in dawn and hot water in the tub, soaked in Oxyclean, washed and soaked in Synthrapol. All attempts were overnight (over 12 hrs). It got to the point I was leeching out the colors from the other fabrics. I did not put it through the dryer until I gave up.
I am now in the process of making a new quilt.

cjsews

I had a bleed on a new quilt when my LAer misted it to remove quilt markings. After it was bound I took it to the laundromat. Used a front load machine so it had plenty of water to disperse the dye. I threw in a few color catchers in with it. Luckily all the bleed came out

mkc

Since this is a customer quilt, I would not proceed without notifying the customer.

Peckish

Just curious - did you mean to say a top loading machine? Because the front loaders are designed specifically to use less water, not more.

cjsews

Peckish, the machines at the laundromat use more water than the home ones do. And they have the extra space so it is not all bundled up in the machine