COLOR CATCHERS -- WHEN YOU DON'T PRE-WASH

 Sometimes I pre-wash all the fabric for a quilt. Sometimes I don't.

 I used to pre-wash everything. When I discovered Shout Color Catchers I stopped pre-washing most of the time. Since most of my quilts have many fabrics, this saves a lot of time. When I am ready to start a new quilt, I just pull the fabrics from my stash and get started.

This quilt was made in 2006 and has hung on my living room wall pretty much since then, other than when I was teaching it:

The other day I decided to replace it with something else and wash it. I was pretty sure I had not pre-washed the fabrics. 

I always use at least one Shout Color Catcher when washing a quilt:

Since this quilt has a lot of red fabrics, I used two Color Catchers. Here is the result:

White one is new out of the box, two red ones after washing the quilt

After washing in the machine, I could see there was a bit of red staining on the back of the quilt but none on the front:

The smartest thing I should have done at that point was to wash it again with at least two more Color Catchers. Instead, I dried it. The next time it is washed, with Color Catchers, the red on the back may not come out. 

See how much red is on the label--which was white when it went into the washing machine:

The quilt looks fine on the front, lucky for me. I think we will use it as the Summer quilt this year. The pattern name is Summer Romance by Glad Creations. Seems appropriate. 

Everyone should have Shout Color Catchers in their laundry supplies. And every kid going off to college should be gifted a box and told how to use them. New blue jeans washed with white t-shirts can made those t-shirts gray/blue. 

I don't know how they work, it's magic, but they have saved me several times in the past. I have written about them before, check out those posts here:

Pre-Wash or Not?

Washing Quilts

What is your experience with fabrics that "bleed"?

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Washing Quilts

 After writing about the large number of quilts I am storing, I decided to give a few away. Non-quilter friends asked for these two and I was happy to pass them on:

Hot Summer Nights, original design, 84" x 84"

Faceted Jewels a Glad Creation pattern,
52" x 84"

Thank goodness for labels. Hot Summer Nights, made in 2000 "to use up some of my huge fabric stash"! I  had no idea then what my stash would grow into. And "Faceted Jewels" was made in 2001. Both longarm quilted by Terry Owens, when I was just starting to have a few quilts machine quilted:

November 2000

2001

Both of these were class samples way back when. And I knew they wouldn't be classes ever again. Faceted Jewels has been hanging on a guest room wall for almost 20 years. Hot Summer Nights has been taking up space on the bookshelf for many years too. 

Before I gave them away, I decided to wash them. It seems likely they had not been washed ever before, seeing how nice and crinkly they came out of the dyer.

Color Catchers are mandatory when I wash quilts. Here you can clearly see how much dye was released from these two quilts, washed in separate loads. The white one on the left is a Color Catcher new out of the box. The green one came from Faceted Jewels and the really dark one from Hot Summer Nights:

It is likely there is still plenty of color in both of these quilts judging by how much color is in these sheets. I will include a few new Color Catcher sheets and the box lid when I give these quilts to my friends--so they know to use them at least during the next washing. Eventually, there will be almost no dye lost and I wouldn't use them going forward.

Every kid going off on their own should be taught about these Color Catchers--so new blue jeans don't turn new white t-shirts a lovely shade of gray. 

I don't wash my quilts very often, only when first complete, if they get dirty during use or when giving them away. These were put in a front load washer on Express Wash (30 minutes) with half a teaspoon of Orvus Paste as the detergent. And one Color Catcher. Water temps were warm/cool. The dryer setting was high. If I didn't love the crinkled look, I would air-dry flat.  

For a better look at the colors, here are "glamour shots" of these after washing/drying, laying on a spare bed:

How do I decide which quilts I can part with? When I am happier at the thought of a specific quilt being with a friend, then I am having it in my possession. Unfortunately, I have a lot I can't consider parting with at the moment.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

Modern Quilt?

Here is a quilt, cuddle size, I made this week for my son's girlfriend.

It's 64" x 68" after washing, the perfect "cuddle on the couch" size.  I used 80/20 cotton batt and had not prewashed the fabric so I was curious about 3 things:

 

1. How much would the fabrics "run"?  I always use a Shout Color Catcher sheet when washing new quilts and this one came out light/medium blue SO the fabrics did run and I will tell the new owner to be sure to use a Color Catcher the next few times she washes it.  I dug deep in my fat quarter and smaller bins for blue, green and gray fabrics.  Some of these are old favorites, at least 15 years old.

 

2.  How much would the quilt shrink?  The package said 3% and that was about what happened.  The top was 67" x 71" when finished and the quilt came out of the dryer 64" x 68".  Fine with me.

 

3.  Would the shrinkage help to disguise the few areas of puckers on the back?  Yes, it did.  Now you have to look close and be picky to see them.  I had to baste this in thirds, on the dining room table, with help from the cats, so the back was not as tight as it should have been.  Lesson learned--the cats can't help.

I got the design idea from quilts on Pinterest and Flickr--I searched for Modern quilts and found a few easy but interesting designs I might try.  This was the first idea but as it grew on the design wall I didn't love it. So I added the gray strip in the middle and liked it much better.  The idea was to have an easy design so I could complete it quickly, and use as many blue, green and gray fabrics as possible. 

Free Motion Machine quilting is not my strong suit and that's putting it mildly.  I wanted to quilt this one myself and chose an easy wavy line design for the pieced strips.  While they are less than perfect, I concentrated on trying to keep the stitch length as regular as possible.  In the border I used a circular design, to mimic the circles in the border print.  Well, I had intended to do ovals but from the beginning I got circles so I just stuck with that.  It quilted pretty quickly, over two days and all in all, the quilting is OK and as a cuddle quilt, it's just fine. 

This week I'll quilt the X Block swap quilt and get my show entries ready.  Our guild show is October 11-13 and I have 4 to be sure are clean and have labels in place.  I always add a sleeve while applying the binding so at least that job is done.  Also have to get going on garments for Houston--that's only 6 weeks away!

Be sure to check out Judy L's Design Wall Monday to see what others are doing. 

Let's quilt!

Barbara