Bleeding Fabric Test

After the disaster known as "The Misery Quilt"(q.v.), I tried to replicate the bleeding of the fabric.

Locating the remainder of the "bad, bad, bad" fabric, I rinsed it in six sinks full of synthropol...still bleeding.

WHAT would make it STOP??!!

I tried just wetting the suspect fabric and laying it on muslin to test for transfer of dye. Result: Some severe spotting but not the overall transfer I had encountered.

Another test...

This time I took the removed patches, placed one in a glass of plain water and the other in a glass of soapy water (Orvus).

Obvious running occurred in the soapy water, to which I added a scrap of muslin to test for transfer.

Admittedly, this muslin scrap sat in the bleeding soapy water overnight, but the coloration you see is comparable to the diamonds that appeared on "The Misery Quilt".

My conclusion is that the bleeding is a reaction with a soapy solution.
( I have tested other detergents with this fabric with similar results. The fabric did NOT bleed in water without soap.)

Lo and behold, the bad, bad fabric is pieced into my new work in progress!!!
Out it comes, whether I know what caused bleeding or not. I'm not going through this again.

More testing...

This time on the same print, only in the gold color . Same transfer of dye in soapy water. I'm going to pull this from my stash as well.

I don't know the manufacturer of the fabric because the selvedges had been cut off.

Here's what it looks like so you may test for yourself in case there's some in your stash :

Fabric Which Runs

It has a great potential to ruin a good quilt when washed.

I usually wash all fabrics when I bring them home. Both of these fabrics were prewashed before using.

Because I wash like colors together, I never noticed the transfer of dye in the first wash.

I don't know if all dye transfer can be prevented...(obviously not), but in the future, I think it would be worth more time to do a soap test as well as a water test for running of dye molecules.
(My husband will move out if I ruin a "major" quilt.)

Perhaps if I add a piece of muslin when I pre-wash I'll have a clue which to test.

Remember, hundreds of fabrics were used in "The Misery Quilt" and this is the one fabric which caused the disastrous results.

C'est la Vie?

[ Read More Tips | Top of Page | Home ]