It's been a bit of a slog, this Critters Churndash. I bought the original bundle of fabric in the Black Friday sales of 2013. Then spent 6 months gathering more fabrics before finally deciding to make churndash blocks in the May of 2014. The blocks got made quickly but it was October before I got the borders on. And when I basted it over the Christmas holidays it still sat until last week to start quilting.
I was convinced my basting was terrible and I'd have all sorts of trouble with the crosshatch quilting. But it was all hunky dory! Although my little Temple shadow got in the way at every opportunity.
And then did the same again when I was sewing the binding on.
But by last Tuesday I was hand finishing the binding and popped the last stitch in it earlier this evening. And shoved it in the washing machine.
Disaster!!
I'm not sure exactly what happened - I've never seen anything quite like this. The marking ink? The thread? But I think my unwashed Ikea navy backing has bled through the stitching holes but only at selective bits. Those four blocks right in the middle are the worst making hiding it really awkward! I stuck it right back in the machine on a gentle wash with a wee spot of Vanish stain remover. No change. I soaked the bad bits in Vanish for 20 minutes and gave it a third cool wash. Nada. So I went totally balls to the wall and sprayed my spray bleach directly on to the worst marks, left it 15 minutes and put it in a 40 degrees wooly wash.
Result!!!
It's not perfect but it's useable and there's only 2 wee places where it's faded fabric that wasn't navy-by-accident. Ha! So I've had an interesting evening! To be honest I was totally relaxed about the whole shenanigans; shit happens, right? And if I'm totally honest my last resort was bleach bathing the whole thing - and I'm a wee bit disappointed I won't get to do it! Hopefully it will be even less noticeable when dry and now I have my own dye horror story to tell. I'm a proper quilter!
That's what happened with my BOM friendship block quilty....black spots here and there. No rhyme nor reason. Did the color catcher which didn't help then bleach. Most of it came out but not all. You have to look really close to see it but that's ok...it's the last quilt Slate laid all over so it's precious to me!:)
ReplyDeleteyay! glad its worked!
ReplyDeleteHoly hell that was scary, Next time, two boxes of colour catchers ;)
ReplyDeleteYou were brave to use bleach! I'd have had a total meltdown if that had happened to me!
ReplyDeleteAh bleach......your mama will be so proud lol. Great save though and it looks fab x
ReplyDeleteP.S. I get so jealous when I see those super cool cats. I think the smiling nicely batting the eye lashes and leaving the the cats protection web page open on the iPad are totally lost on Colin. Time for the not lady like tantrum me thinks
ReplyDeleteCan you let us know what you used for marking? Was it one of the Frixion pens?
ReplyDeleteOhhhhhh EMMMMM GEEEEEEE the bleach thing? I'd have been to scared to risk it. Did it bleach the other fabrics or just the dodgy dye bit? Did you have to breathe into a paper bag at any stage. I was reaching for one as I read this.
ReplyDeleteWOAH! You're a maniac! Bleach on a quilt!?!? I wouldn't have dared. I'm so very happy this worked out well for you.
ReplyDeleteTemple. Is. Adorable.
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! A similar thing happened on my mam's quilt (she forgot the colour catchers!) but fortunately the colour went on the flannel back rather than the front - after a few more washes (because it was mucky, not because of the dye), we noticed that the patches had completely gone...fortunately!
ReplyDelete