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.)

Red Again

 

My granddaughter has asked me to make her a black, red and white quilt. I'm pretty sure I know where I am going with it, so I ordered some fabric, because a basic black red and white quilt isn't very interesting. I want to make her quilt fun so I ordered some fabrics. Since the Big Red quilt bled I've been very careful in choosing dark fabrics, particularly for backings of my quilts.

But my DGD wanted RED and RED was what I wanted to give her. So when the fabrics arrived the other day, I ran them through the wash, as I always do. The color catchers that came out were the ones on the upper left in the photo above.

I ran them all through the washer AGAIN, and the color catchers came out are on the upper right of the photo. But I wasn't worried. I knew that I would soak the fabrics the way Vicki Welsh recommends in her "Save my bleeding quilt" post.

So I did that and let the fabrics soak for a full twelve hours 

The color catchers that came out after I ran the fabrics through the wash were the ones at the bottom of the top picture. Actually, the photo is very deceiving. The color catches were almost white.

When I washed the BLACK fabrics, the color catchers were quite dark, so I plan to give them the good soak as well. It will take a day or two or three before I get to that because the guys will be at my house this week to finish the small things in the bathroom and office and I have decided to have the rug in my living room removed and have LVF installed there too. 

I'm still working on the silver and pink quilt, and hope to have that top done this week. 

Big, Bigger, and Biggest Big Red

The Big Red quilt is finished and I took it out for Beauty Shots. This was my favorite.

After I take a quilt outside for beauty shots, I put the quilt in the washer. Because it was made of red fabrics, I threw three Color Catchers in the machine.

Imagine my surprise when the Color Catchers turned out THIS red.

I was even more surprised when I looked at the quilt. OH CRAP! I had to deliver the quilt to Pam in a few hours. She was to present to her church group at 10 AM on Saturday. This was definitely not good.

After a second trip through the washing machine the quilt looked like this. Better, but no cigar! 

I contacted Julie and she told me about Vicki Welsh's Save My Bleeding Quilt.

The instructions say to soak the quilt in very hot water with Dawn dish detergent. For once I was glad I have a big bathtub.

The quilt must be totally submerged. I used bin covers, and weighed them down with pans filled with water.

I didn't have twelve hours to soak the quilt as Vicki recommends, but this is what the quilt looked like after soaking for four hours. Pam and I examined the quilt, and decided it was fine. So I threw it back into the washing machine for a rinse and then a wash. While that happened, we had dinner.

After a trip through the dryer, the quilt looked like this. Pam and I re-examined the quilt in detail and were both happy with it.

WHAT A RELIEF!

I can wholeheartedly recommend Vicki's method of dealing with a bleeding quilt.