plays10s

Hi - I made a quilt for my daughter-in-law. It was supposed to be a "quilt", but she liked it so much that she has used it for a couple of years as her comforter. She thinks the white sashings could stand to be whitened. She has washed this quilt several times. She wants to know can she Safely use the Ritz Whitener and Brightener or the Ritz White Wash. I'm thinking not the White Wash. Also, she has always washed this in cold water with regular detergent. When you use the Ritz, you are supposed to use hot water. Also, there is Quilters Dream wool inside as batting. Any suggestions?

I hope someone can help me. Thanks!

Mousie

I hope somebody more knowledgeable than me comes by but when I want
to get dullness out of my laundry I use vinegar.
I don't know any reason it should harm colors either.

SillySusan

There is the powdered bleach for colors that I've used successfully,... but not on quilts. It seems to whiten the whites as well as brighten colors. I use vinegar also, but for softness and for a light disinfectant for regular laundry and for quilts.

quiltingshorttimer

I'd say no to the Ritz product--instead get some Restoration at a quilt shop--it will brighten the white and the colors both. Have her just follow the instructions on the container. Works great.

costumegirl

I've heard good things about the "Restoration" product from some of our guild members. They like the product and have had success in brightening vintage quilts. One member restores quilts and she highly recommends it as it is supposed to be gentle on the fabric however she soaks the quilts in her bathtub and does not use a washing machine for the process.

I agree with Quiltingshorttimer and would not use the Ritz product.

Jingle

Would liquid oxyclean or liquid clorox 2 for colors and whites. No bleach in either. I only wash in coldwater Tide, everything I wash.

lindaschipper

I also vote for Oxyclean. Because my husband is allergic to bleach it's the only thing I can use to brighten whites and keep them new looking.

Tothill

A warning about Oxyclean. The first time I used I let it sit too long and ruined a very expensive piece of clothing. I had pretreated per the directions, but the top did not go into the machine as planned and had the product on too long. It completely bleached the top.

Play, if you still have scraps from the quilt, why not pass them along, so your dil can try different products on scraps to check the impact. If you do not have those scraps, but have something similar, perhaps she could try them too? Or make up a couple quilt sandwiches of the same or similar fabrics for her to test.

nativetexan

Restoration fabric restorer seems to work wonders.

themadpatter

I have soaked a number of "vintage" fabrics in powdered oxyclean dissolved in water, and they all came out beautiful. The old yellowed pillowcase is not yellow anymore, and I soaked the GFG unfinished top in it, too. After I fixed all the problems on it, the rust stains, the chewed up side, the pieces that had frayed apart. I noticed that it had some kind of weird pleasantly scented stains on it. I learned the hard way that we do not wash tops before they are sandwiched, but I also didn't want to do all that stitching on the quilting, and then not like the fact that it had stains. It's an old top, and is quite faded, not sure why, but it's made from old fabrics that I like, so I'm going to use it on our bed. (tried it the other night because it was really cold, and it was great! Still not quilted though, lol.)

Anyway, I sewed the layers together and birthed it, sewed the hole shut, sewed all the way around the edge, and soaked it for 2 or 3 days. (I use a lot of disappearing glue stick, and when I first put it in, the water turned purple, which freaked me out a little, til I figured out what it was.) I did it in a plastic tub in my bath tub. Dumped it out, gently pressed it to get out the soak solution, and then filled the tub up a few inches to rinse it. Dainty, dainty, tender , blah, blah. Did that a couple of times, then put it in my front loader to spin. Laid it out in my sewing room with a fan on it instead of drying it in the dryer. All the ick was gone, and its in great shape. So, I say, try that. It worked for me.