Help Please: How to Wash
06-27-2011, 06:58 PM
#11
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Rural Small Town Ontario
Posts: 1,474
With these fabrics, I'd wash the batik with all the reds, and the dark stripes and the other dark fabric. Everything else except the cream in another load, and the cream separately.
Vinegar will help set the colours, and a Shout Colour Catcher is another great product - throw it in the wash, it will gather up extra dye.
Cutting a corner off an edge will also help keep fraying in check.
I usually put in a bit of detergent, about half what I would put in a normal load - the fabric isn't dirty, but might be dusty from its journey to you. No fabric softener. When the fabric is damp-dry, press and starch. Then you're ready to cut!
LOVE the batik - your fabrics are gorgeous - what pattern are you making?
Vinegar will help set the colours, and a Shout Colour Catcher is another great product - throw it in the wash, it will gather up extra dye.
Cutting a corner off an edge will also help keep fraying in check.
I usually put in a bit of detergent, about half what I would put in a normal load - the fabric isn't dirty, but might be dusty from its journey to you. No fabric softener. When the fabric is damp-dry, press and starch. Then you're ready to cut!
LOVE the batik - your fabrics are gorgeous - what pattern are you making?
06-27-2011, 07:09 PM
#12
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Mississippi Gulf Coast
Posts: 68
Originally Posted by LindaM
With these fabrics, I'd wash the batik with all the reds, and the dark stripes and the other dark fabric. Everything else except the cream in another load, and the cream separately.
Vinegar will help set the colours, and a Shout Colour Catcher is another great product - throw it in the wash, it will gather up extra dye.
Cutting a corner off an edge will also help keep fraying in check.
Thank you so much for the advice. I am going to make Swirly Girls "Brickworks". I will use the the batik for the small squares and the others as the rectangles. Haven't decided the border yet. May keep the black stripe for that? My son, 14 yrs, chose the fabric with a little guidance from the shop ladies ;) I hope to have enough finished to surprise him Friday night when they return from camp.
I usually put in a bit of detergent, about half what I would put in a normal load - the fabric isn't dirty, but might be dusty from its journey to you. No fabric softener. When the fabric is damp-dry, press and starch. Then you're ready to cut!
LOVE the batik - your fabrics are gorgeous - what pattern are you making?
Vinegar will help set the colours, and a Shout Colour Catcher is another great product - throw it in the wash, it will gather up extra dye.
Cutting a corner off an edge will also help keep fraying in check.
Thank you so much for the advice. I am going to make Swirly Girls "Brickworks". I will use the the batik for the small squares and the others as the rectangles. Haven't decided the border yet. May keep the black stripe for that? My son, 14 yrs, chose the fabric with a little guidance from the shop ladies ;) I hope to have enough finished to surprise him Friday night when they return from camp.
I usually put in a bit of detergent, about half what I would put in a normal load - the fabric isn't dirty, but might be dusty from its journey to you. No fabric softener. When the fabric is damp-dry, press and starch. Then you're ready to cut!
LOVE the batik - your fabrics are gorgeous - what pattern are you making?
06-28-2011, 01:39 AM
#13
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 12,861
adding vinegar is simply a waste of vinegar- unless you need to (freshen) your water---
vinegar only sets acid dyes---
acid dyes are only used on wools and silks
so don't bother with the vinegar.
i pre-wash like colors together--reds together/ blues-greens together=== all (lights) together-
i use my regular detergent and warm water- toss in a color catcher if i think something might run/bleed
no fabric softener (if you plan to use any fusable product or marking product fabric softener can effect how it works)
i toss my fabrics into a hot dryer- i want most of the shrinkage to be done- i want any color running done-
then i lovingly iron my fabrics with starch before cutting.
vinegar only sets acid dyes---
acid dyes are only used on wools and silks
so don't bother with the vinegar.
i pre-wash like colors together--reds together/ blues-greens together=== all (lights) together-
i use my regular detergent and warm water- toss in a color catcher if i think something might run/bleed
no fabric softener (if you plan to use any fusable product or marking product fabric softener can effect how it works)
i toss my fabrics into a hot dryer- i want most of the shrinkage to be done- i want any color running done-
then i lovingly iron my fabrics with starch before cutting.
06-28-2011, 03:41 AM
#14
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Central NJ
Posts: 5,572
Originally Posted by Holice
same rules you would with clothes.....darks with darks and lights with lights and mediums somewhere between.
06-28-2011, 04:51 AM
#16
Super Member
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Northeast IL
Posts: 2,064
Had a housefire and the cleaners cleaned my stash. I have no idea how they did it but I'm guessing it was a commercial machine. They did not treat it gently.
I want any new fabric to act the same as my existing stash. I toss it into the machine after machine-basting the non-selvage edges. If not for the fire & cleaners I wouldn't be this hard on my fabric but I couldn't see myself keeping the old separate from the new. I also know that however my quilts are treated they will be OK. (Baring accidents with critters & kids)
All this to say anything you do will work. Just be consistent in the way you treat your fabric.
I want any new fabric to act the same as my existing stash. I toss it into the machine after machine-basting the non-selvage edges. If not for the fire & cleaners I wouldn't be this hard on my fabric but I couldn't see myself keeping the old separate from the new. I also know that however my quilts are treated they will be OK. (Baring accidents with critters & kids)
All this to say anything you do will work. Just be consistent in the way you treat your fabric.
06-28-2011, 01:47 PM
#19
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: AZ and CT
Posts: 4,898
The 'Shout' sheets MAY help - but they don't stop colors from bleeding. I've had some fabrics that continue to bleed after 3 washings with Shout sheets. At that point - I use Retayne. Probably should have used it after the first try. The biggest surprise - it happens more often with YELLOW!!! Red usually gives up after the first wash.
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