The Blackest Black

 Black is a hard color to dye because there is no single "source" for it. Most black is a mixture of  several other dye colors, and manufacturers have to use a LOT of it to make black fabric BLACK.

So it wasn't really a surprise last week when the color catchers that came out of the wash with the black fabrics I bought were this dark (and actually they are DARKER in real life).

Now, I should tell you that I wash EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF FABRIC before I even bring it into my studio. I never used to use Color catchers when I washed new fabrics because I (erroneously) thought that washing the fabric would remove ALL the excess dye. I was mistaken, so now whenever I buy fabric I always include color catches in the wash cycle.

Since I bought these black fabrics to use in a Black, White and Red quilt for my granddaughter, I knew the blacks would bleed into the other fabrics after the quilt was complete. I didn't want that, so I decided to soak the black fabrics in detergent using Vickie Welsh's instructions, here. 

Doing the red fabrics last week showed me the faucet in the bathtub leaked, and while it was only a drip drip drip, that was enough to almost fill the tub to overflowing if I let something soak all night. (Can you say, saved by the skin of my teeth?)

So when I needed to soak the black fabrics I used one of the large plastic storage bins I have. As you can see from the photo above, taken over twelve hours later, the fabric really needed it, and a lot of black dye was released.

This is what it looked like when I drained the tub.

This is what the color catchers looked like after I washed the black fabrics again. You can see they are lighter than the light gray fabric from the pink and silver quilt and just a bit darker than the white bath towel visible in the background.

I've since ironed all the fabrics and will be ready to start on my granddaughter's quilt early next week. The guys are going to be here for the next two days replacing the carpet in my living room with Laminated Vinyl Flooring, so my house is going to be in disarray for a few days.

I have one big long seam to sew to finish the Pink and Silver quilt top. That and getting the backing ready for it will happen while the guys are working on the floor. (I'll be taking refuge in the studio.)