• How To Stop Colors From Bleeding

Mar 06, 2015  How to Remove Color Run and Bleeding From Fabrics Make a solution of ½ scoop of oxy bleach to 2 cups of warm water. Spread this concentrated mix over the stained areas and allow it to penetrate for 5 minutes. While your items are soaking, dissolve.

I was slightly traumatized after the holidays when putting away my decorations. Even though I’ve heard of a bleeding quilt, I was surprised when it showed up under my Christmas tree. My red and cream tree skirt had water spilled on it and the red fabric bled into the surrounding cream fabric.

Ouch!It was bleeding in several large areas and I didn’t expect a full recovery. Thankfully, I remembered an article I read from. And guess what friends. It worked!I put enough VERY hot water in our bathtub to cover the tree skirt and then I added the magic ingredient: Dawn dish soap, about 1/3 cup. I followed Suzy’s instructions almost to the “T”. Instead of letting it soak for 12 hours, I stopped at 6 hours.

But that was enough for my little Christmas tree skirt.I think the Dawn dish soap suspends the fabric dye in the water. Another reason to keep Dawn around! I rinsed it really well in warm water and then I put it through the washing machine on a light cycle with no detergent.

It came out perfect!I know someone is going to ask about the tree skirt pattern. It was a freebie online many years ago and it’s no longer available. UPDATE: You can find the pattern at this link:. Thanks to Erin, one of my blog followers, for sending me that link!Coincidentally, I met the lady who wrote the pattern (for Darlene Zimmerman) during my lecture at the Cumberland Valley Quilters Association in Tennessee.

She happened to be in the audience and told me about her involvement with the pattern. Such a small world!Anyways, back to the fabric bleed issue. Just thought I would pass this along in case it happens to you. And thanks to Suzy for saving the day! All,I was able to find this lovely pattern can be found through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

How To Stop Colors From Bleeding

Darlene Zimmerman’s “Stars All Around” was available from Simplicity back in Fall 2010 on their website. It was also offered as Simplicity pattern 3977 “Holiday Quilting” with the addition of a mantle cover and stocking.Below is the URL to an image of the pattern page as it first appeared. I’d suggest that you save and print this pattern for your personal library.I wish you all happy holiday quilting. Sadly this method did not work for my quilt – had done a queen size with lots of sampler blocks in red, blues and cream colors – Americana, and mostly scraps. The red small pin dot I loved and used throughout for the sashing and inner border. I should have known when I first started working with it, was a little stiff, different from my other fabrics.

I started noticing the pink tinges here and there – it was bleeding with the steam from the iron as I was piecing and pressing the blocks. When I had the quilt top put together, the pink areas stood out at least to me. A friend suggested I wash the quilt top in washer with warm water and 1/4 cup Synthropol and 4 color catcher sheets. The sheets came out positively magenta in color. No change in the bleeding areas of the quilt. I went ahead and sent it out to be quilted. When I got it back, she suggested ( she actually challenged me saying she knew I wans’t going to do it because it was scary to do – of course I had to try it to prove to her that I DID everything I could do!) – she referred me to “save my bleeding quilt” by Vicky Walsh.

I put the quilt in bathtub in hot water with a little Dawn detergent, like 1/4 cup or so. Now my only bathtub is on third floor of my house. The directions said to check it in an hour and if there’s color in the water, to drain and start again. So after an hour I did check it and the water was BLUE – not what I was expecting! So I did drain the tub and was out of hot water by that time. So I started boiling 3 large pots of water on my stove which is on second level. I started carrying these boiling pots from second floor to third floor bathtub and dumped them in, again with the Dawn suggested.

I emailed Vicky at least 6-7 times that day – at this point she admitted that even she probably wouldn’t have gone to carrying the boiling pots up and down stairs! So I left it 12 hours. Pulled it out and rinsed it. I cannot say there is any change in the bleeding areas. But I can say that when I mention it to anyone, I have to point out where they are. So apparently not noticeable at first glance.

Certain fabrics I noticed picked it up more than others. Even one of the darker blues had a little tan vine through it and that had taken up the red there too.

I figured it’d never be a show stopper – I did get red second place at the fair and the judge never commented on the bleeding color. So in hindsight, if I find the fabric stiff like it was to begin with, I should have washed it before using. Or found a different one!

It was an experience to be sure. I still love the quilt but my eye goes to those areas! Sylvia Bryan- I wonder if when you pressed your blocks with a steam iron, and the color started to run, if you had set the color in permanently? Pressing with a hot iron is one way to set dyes? Hope the dye will eventually escape, and your quilt will be perfect! I had a bleed incident once on a queen sized quilt, white background, with burgundy stars and flowers on it.

I used the Synthropol in the washer, per instructions, and fortunately for me, it worked, and all the bleed was removed!I’ll try the Dawn trick if it happens again. Good luck!: ).

I’m not positive that it will work, but you might try using Q-tips to carefully dab hydrogen peroxide on the bleed spots, cover them with a muslin press cloth and gently press with a warm (not hot) iron. You may have to repeat this a few times. It works to remove scorch marks so maybe it would work for color-bleeds too. You could try it anyway, it wouldn’t make anything worse. And if it works, well, there you are – problem solved! And if you can get “Color-Catchers” where you live, always wash your quilt with 1 or 2 of these before using it.

They’ll absorb any color that leaches out and you won’t have to worry about it again. Hello Julie; I am glad that this worked because your tree skirt is beautiful! I made sure to save this post on pinterest in a couple of spots, just in case. I have not had anything bleed so far, but I also am a prewasher usually and always use the Colorcatchers now also. Yet, good old fashioned remedies are usually the most reliable and it seems that so many of them involve Dawn dish soap, Vinegar and Baking Soda.

Again, so thrilled this worked for you and also Thank You for sharing the Tip! Have a Fantastic Day! Orvus works quite well. You can buy it in big containers at a farm store as it is a horse and dog show shampoo that is also used as a quilt soap. Much less expensive in a farm store than a quilt shop. I use it for all my laundry and as shampoo. Shout Color Catchers and the product called Color Grabbers is wonderful, too.

Turquoise batiks are notorious for color sharing. Dawn is a miracle product. I use that in combination with hydrogen peroxide to get stains out of most everything.

It removed wine stains from a white piece of hardanger and works on carpeting too. Google the recipes.

Fabric and No Commercial Products to Stop It – No Problem!Head to your kitchen and grab the original green Palmolive liquid that you use to wash your dishes. This inexpensive dish washing liquid will help your fabric release the excess dye and will allow you to get back to quilting! Simply run water in your sink that is the temperature you will eventually be using to wash your finished quilt, add a generous amount of original green Palmolive liquid to the water and then place your fabric in the water and agitate. (PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT PUT THIS IN YOUR FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE.

The bubbles are way to plentiful for your washing machine to handle.) Let your fabric soak for 20-30 minutes agitating it occasionally. Let the water out of the sink and rinse. If the water does not run clear, run another Palmolive bath for your fabric and repeat the process. Depending on the fabric, it may take two to three Palmolive baths to stop the color discharge completely, but it is better to stop it now than complete a quilt and have it ruined during the first wash. When the water runs clear, place your fabric in the washing machine with a Shout Color Catcher to make sure that no more dye is being released and then you will be ready to use your fabric with the confidence that it is now colorfast.