When a Quilt Bleeds, What Do You Do?

I have already done the first few things that pop into my mind of what to do when your quilt has bled...scream, hunt for chocolate.  There was none.  I went for a glass of wine.  It took the edge off, but I needed to address this problem quickly.  Afterall, paperwork for this quilt has already been sent in to a couple of shows.

Three days ago, I cleared space in my basement to block my 80" quilt, which is just a hair too big to block upstairs in my bedroom (the usual place).  It requires moving my bed too close to the door, making the room uncomfortable.  Truth be told, my husband came to bed late one night when I had a previous quilt on the blocking boards.  Maybe he forgot I had moved the bed, who knows.  But he claims to have near walked straight into the bed upon entering the room.  Either way, even with an 18' long room, it is oddly cramped with an 80" quilt on the floor.  So...All set up downstairs.  As soon as my daughter got on the bus Monday, I happily scooted off to wet my quilt and get it blocking.

Here it is (above) all wet.  Dontcha just love the texture that shows?!...That was the last moment I was really happy this week.  Unless, if you consider the fact that I got the quilt all pinned on the blocking board, and did in fact discover it is a full 80" long (I had measured more like 78-79") - Being 80" makes it qualify for the bed quilt category, which is what I have wanted all along.  Anyways, I am digressing.  On Monday evening I checked on the quilt.  It was very wet still and I was seeing something I really hate to see - staining of color on the light background.  Normally I'd worry about the reds and deep plums, but the staining was all coming from aqua/teal materials.  The Hoffman 1895 hand-dyes I use so often are fantastic and do not bleed, but every now and then I toss another batik into the quilt, as I have done here.  Damn. Damn.  Damn.

 See...closeup of the mess.  It ran through to the backing in some places too.

Yuck.  I immediately sent off an email to the first person that I thought of - Vicki Welsh, Queen of Hand-dyes.  I knew she'd have some good advice.  I had a quilt last year (the one with all the tiny appliqued grapes) bleed, but it was small enough to wash in the washer with a bunch of color catchers hand stitched over the grapes.  It came out fine.  This quilt is big, and I did a cardinal sin - I trimmed the edge and had cut through the stitching,  I feared that the stitches would unravel in a wash cycle, even though I did put a row of tight stitching around the perimeter.  The washing machine is just not a possibility before it is bound.

 Stupid dots.  Stupid teal bleeding fabric.  UGH.  And I can't believe that is blue and green on the backside!

OK, so Vicki's advice is to soak it in a tub, submerged for 12+ hours with 1/2 to 1C of dish detergent (She uses Synthrapol, but thought the detergent would work the same).  Start with water that is as hot as possible.  She says 140F, but I measured mine to be 126F (I am an engineer.  Ya didn't think I'd pass on measuring the temp did you?!).  I added 3 large pots full of boiling water, which is no easy feat since the jacuzzi where the quilt is bathing is upstairs.  The quilt is weighted down too to keep it submerged.  For good measure, I also tossed in the last 6 Shout color catchers I had.  I should say also that I have checked 3 stores locally and cannot find Synthrapol.  Panic was beginning to set in.  I came back 10 hours later to see how things looked.

The 6 color catchers show tinges of aqua, but the staining is not gone.  Some places are better, but it is showing in other new places too.  I ought to add, it is hard when the light fabrics are wet to identify staining versus seeing the brighter colored seam allowance underneath the cream fabric.  But I know my feathered star was not constructed with "bruise" colored material.  Yesterday evening we picked up another package of color catchers (these were odd, with a detergent in a pouch) and another stain stick.  I have already gone through 1 stain stick.  I liberally coated the spots again and filled up the tub to soak it again overnight, throwing in all 10 of the oxy-clean color catchers.  If one is good, ten must be better.

This morning, after 22 hours of soaking, it is not normal yet.  I am getting mad.  And nowhere near here has Synthrapol.  Sophie and I ventured out to get more supplies.  I'm not messing around this time.  What fool only uses 6 color catchers?  These are the 24 pack of color catchers that I had used last year with success.

I pretreated every stain location on the front and back with the Shout stuff.  Probably used over half a bottle.  I then attached all 96 color catchers to the colored areas of the quilt or anywhere that had evidence of bleeding.  It appears to be complete and utter overkill times 10, but I am just sick of dealing with this.  I started hand stitching them on, but wet quilt is hard to stitch through.  I used pins for most of them.  Will have to be super careful handling the quilt tomorrow.  Blood would be harder to remove.

I then folded this monster up, loaded the tub for a 3rd time with hot soapy water, and proceeded to hope for the best.  Oh, and for good measure, I did pick up a $3 bottle of ReTayne at Joann's for future quilts.  They didn't have the Synthrapol though.  The blue hue in the tub is the laundry detergent.  Funny, because I have shelled out $37 for 5 boxes of color catchers and 3 stain sticks!

I have checked it half a dozen times since I stuck it (with it's 96 color catchers) back into the tub.  I even ran the jacuzzi pump a couple times to generate a little turbulence and bubbles.  Not sure why.  Maybe the white noise of the pump is soothing.  Maybe I have really lost my mind.  Now, I guess I will just go about my day and check it at bedtime.  As they say, the watch pop never boils.  Whatever happens, I gotta think that whatever dye is coming out of the quilt, it will have released all it is released in 44 hours.  So for better or worse, tomorrow it goes to the blocking boards.  Cross your fingers for a positive outcome and stay tuned.

If ANYBODY else has any other advice, should the staining not be gone, please speak up.  I'd love to hear from you.  And I know, prewash. Prewash, and prewash again.  Can't you tell I'm not a prewasher??? I will be.