I have bought a number of quilt tops to quilt, bind, and sell. There was a heart top that I thought would be perfect in my booth for Valentine’s Day. Someone saw it (unquilted) at my house, and she offered to buy it once I had it quilted and bound. Well, I decided to wash it for her as well. Better me than her. The reds ran. Here are the color catcher sheets after the first and second loads. When I saw them red as crimson after the first wash, I immediately threw in two more sheets, removed the first ones, and washed it again. It was STILL pink when I pulled it out the second time.
I could not figure out why the dye had run with a 1/4” frame around the heart. I looked up (on Pinterest, of course) how to get the dye out. I filled our bathtub with hot water, boiled some pots of water, and added Dawn dish detergent and donned thick rubber gloves. I swished my quilt through it, and a lot more dye came out, making the water pink.
It was rare, but it had snowed here unexpectedly this AM. At the time of the quilt anxiety, it was far from AM. Plus, we were having guests for supper, and I had to make dessert and supper yet. But my quilt needed me. My husband was reluctant to have me go out because it appeared that the roads were bad.
I called a local store to see if they carried a product called Carbona Color Run Remover. They did. I bought two boxes and went directly to the laundromat with my still-wet quilt. I ran it through their washer (which is much more aggressive then mine and uses quite a bit more water). When it came out, still wet, I noticed that the “bleed” pattern matched the fabric of the heart pattern right above it. Then it dawned on me...the person who pieced it did not cut off the extra red when she did the flipped-corner technique. Because it was wet, the red showed through the thinner white fabric used as a background. Oh, me! I was so upset previously. So I threw caution to the wind and just dried it in our dryer at home.
Here are some pictures of before and after. I think I still see some pink, but hopefully it is just in my memory.
What do you think? Do you see pink in the bottom picture, where the quilt is completely dry?
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