I have been quilting for over 50 years. I have NEVER, EVER had a quilt bleed and I use a TON of heavily overdyed fabrics as well as batiks. I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS wash with color catchers (as many as 20 if it's a king sized quilt.) I DO NOT prewash fabrics, EVER. I live in Arizona and my average monthly water bill is $250 - it goes even higher in the summer, hence, I don't waste water, energy and $$$ on prewashing fabric. Use color catchers. Tell your customers to use color catchers. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!!! Love your hints on fixing torn and much loved quilts :)

I am currently unsewing a queen size quilt because of poor tension after a bobbin change 😢 it looked great from the front. I didn't notice until I took it off the frame. Hard lesson to learn but I now do a tension check after every bobbin change

I recently repaired a Grandmothers Flower garden with small hexagons. Some of the fabric deteriorated. How I "fixed" the damaged areas was: 1 - I stabilized the torn fabrics with iron on stabilizer 2 - I used the powder and ironed the damaged piece in place, replacing the batting if necessary 3 - hand appliqued? tulle over the damaged area. So far, it's working and is being used on a bed.

If you are concerned about a fabric bleeding while it’s on the frame and you intend to mark the quilt and spray it with water, you can cut your color catchers into strips and lay them on your quilt along the seam areas of suspicious fabric before you spray.

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

That is a fantastic idea!!

@barbaragillespie2304

8 ай бұрын

do you dampen the strips before using them?

I send a shout color catcher with each customer quilt. Also for holes, I put vintage reproduction fabrics underneath and stitch down the original fabric on top to hold everything in place.

I made a quilt with red, black, and white FQs from the Dollar Tree...just to see what would happen with "el cheapo" fabric. Washed in cool water with a few color catchers. Put in dryer on low for 15-20 minutes (damp dry). Did not bleed, did not fall apart. Looks great!

I happened to stick my finger while I was hand quilting my sampler queen size quilt and got blood all over it. It is cream and blue. I thought I would just spot clean it. Needless to say, I got the blood off but the blue did bleed into the cream sections. I cried a LOT! After I dried my eyes I did my best to just rehash only the cream sections. At that time color catchers did not exist. Enough came out that you only noticed it if you know where to look. After the quilt was bound I put the whole thing in the washer and it came out ok. Now I ALWAYS use color catchers. When I give a quilt I include a couple of color catchers with instructions so the person won’t have any noticeable color bleeding when they wash it.

I made a red and white BOM where I could not pretreat the red fabrics because they were already cut. Because of the running that happened I ended up with the reds, I ended up with a pink and red quilt! I never put them in the dryer but continued to wash the quilt about 4-5 more times and air dried it and it all came out. I’ve had people say to soak the quilt in Cold water in the bathtub and keep rinsing until it comes out. I always prewash batiks with Retane before using.

From a long time hand quilter, blood on a quilt comes out best with your own saliva. Yes I spit on the blood spot and rub it in with a microfiber cloth. Works every time.

Synthropol textile detergent is great to remove the excess dyes in fabric. I use it when I do tie dying and it works wonderful, never have any issues. Also works for quilting fabrics that bleed.

I test fabric by cutting a square piece of the test fabric 2" X 2", wet this piece. Sandwich the test fabric between two 3' X 3" pieces of white fabric. Press with hot iron until test fabric is dry. If any of the dye molecules from the test fabric have migrated to the white fabric, the test fabric will most likely cause problems and not be color fast. You will see color on the white fabric squares. I know that to use this fabric, it will need to be treated first to remove the excess dye.

I find it easier to unpick from the bobbin thread if there are loops on the back because if it happens the bobbin thread is tighter and you can pull longer sections of bobbin thread out.

I fixed a red and white quilt that I made that was washed and dried and bled......soaked in bathtub with blue dawn and hot water.....took a few hours and a number of cycles but red all gone.

Color bleed: I recently created a scrap quilt (fabric train) where I used fabric that surprised me - and bled. RED on white. I was fortunate. I washed the quilt two more times with color catchers and the color washed out. I think I dried it once before I checked for bleeding. But the subsequent couple of times, I didn't dry between. I used Tide free and gentle detergent. I am going to definitely keep up with the alternatives you presented.

I had a double sided t-shirt quilt I was commissioned to create. I too excitedly popped it into my washing machine. One of the shirts was tie dyed and bled like crazy. I took it up to my tub and soaked it in dawn. But I agitated it. Unfortunately, the abrasive texture on the bottom of my tub to prevent falls damaged some of the vinyl lettering. I was mortified. Thankfully my customer was very gracious. 😅

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

Oh no!!! That is terrible! I will definitely remember not to do that next time I put one in the tub. Thank you for sharing with us!

I had not seen the tulle idea - that is what I would do for Kristina's quilt.

Bleeding quilt. Recently, the bright pink in one of my quilts bled all the way through the back even though I used color catchers. Fortunately, I noticed before drying. I filled the bathtub, added some Dawn & vinegar; then filled the tub with lukewarm water. Every hour or so I sloshed the quilt around. After an overnight soak the dye released. I put it in the washer and washed with no soap. Now the quilt is like new. The was a tense day for me.

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

I am so glad that it worked out!!

Great tips! Thank you for the info! :)

Thank you for this. I just took a whole bunch of smaller projects off the frame. I had loaded one giant piece of muslin backing, as wide as wd fill the 12’ frame and 90” front to back. Same w the batting. Then I put a variety of pieces on top to quilt. Seemed like a good idea at the time. One of them was a wallhanging for a gift. It was in the middle, so I cdn’t really see the back. 😬 I finally finished quilting all those pieces! (Don’t even ask how long that took!) When I cut it off the frame there had been a tension issue. Not that big (cpl inches) but it’s bright green thread on a white back! It really shows up. If it was for me, I might leave it. But it looks tacky on a gift, and you KNOW they’re going to turn it over! 🤣 I hvnt carefully checked all the other pieces yet. 😬 But that bright green really caught my eye! Re: patching old quilts: that’s what started my fascination w quilting. My parents’ house burned down before I was born. The ladies at the Firemans’ auxiliary made a bunch of quilts and donated them too our huge family. By the time I got to have a turn at having one on my bed, I was 12 years old, and the quilt was already starting to pull apart at the seams. (Kids & kittens, need I say more?) It was a hand pieced quilt. It was a “puss in the corner block.” I used to stare at it and imagine how I would repair it. I could clearly see that it was quarter inch seams and if I recall, the squares were 4” and 2” maybe? 5” & 2 1/2” ? Something like that. Anyway, I was just fascinated with it and thought, I cd do that! It’s just simple math! Well, I never did get to it and IDK whatever happened to that quilt after I left. Nobody knows! (Or wants to admit. 😂) But shortly after I got married, my sis in law asked if I wanted to take a quilting class w her at the local fabric shop. I was like, “heck yeah!!!” So I did and hv been quilting ever since! 😁

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

What a great story about how your quilting journey started!!

My quilt guild ladies said Biz works for old stains in old quilts.

I had a rodent get into a quilt. I used hand embroidery to patch the whiles. I just used a satin stitch and covered th spot without going through to the back. You could use decorative stitches to though.

@HandiQuilter

7 ай бұрын

That's a great idea!

rather than "unpicking" on the front using a seam ripper.....UNpick from the back, why risk a jab/hole/tear in the front, it's safer to unpick from the back in case u have to repair an "accident." It's better to have the accident in the back of the quilt not on the designed front piecing.

Two things on fixing a tension issue after the quilt has been removed. First I would put a safety pin at the location so I can find it after the quilt has been loaded onto the machine. Second, I have never been able to use the super clamps because they are SOOO tight. I thought of removing my leaders - but you gave a good reason not to. I have tried stretching the clamps, but still can't get them on my poles.

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

Have you tried putting them on with just one layer of the leader between the pole and the clamps? They definitely needing to be "broken in" a little!!

@lilianesklenarik4119

8 ай бұрын

Thank you. I will work on "breaking them in". I think they could be very handy if they were a bit looser! @@HandiQuilter

I have patched our wedding quilt until ... there are more patches that pieces blocks. 49 years. Sooo I am using it as batting for special memory quilts I am making as gifts. New pieced flimsy and new backing.

If your clamps r too tight try soaking them in very hot water or use a blow dryer. I admit I haven't tried it (but I would)

I saw a technique called shadow work in which a lighter transparent fabric is laid over dark fabric, on Grandma’s quilt could a strong see through fabrics be put whole cloth over it and free armed along the original seams?

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

Ooooh!! That's a great idea!

@sheilarobertson9717

8 ай бұрын

@@HandiQuilter What Jesus called “ask and you will receive” I think today we term it “networking”. I get some very good helps asking in the comments

I wash with Synthropol.

I took a quilt off the frame and found it had a pleat in the backing. I don't know how it happened so I need to know what I did wrong, but also is there a fix?

@HandiQuilter

7 ай бұрын

Pleats generally happen is the backing isn't smooth to begin or if it is loose and shifts as you are quilting. Make sure you are checking the tension on the backing and using your side clamps.

What is the name of the fusible powder? I couldn't see the package thank you

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

Bo-Nash

@laurastratton8614

8 ай бұрын

@@HandiQuilter thanks!

I have the super clamps but can’t use them, way to tight ( yes they are the right size for my frame):

@kimsandberg1364

8 ай бұрын

Yes - they can be very tight at the beginning. Try putting a scrap of fabric a little longer and wider than the clamp right underneath it when you pop them on. Then you can pull up on the edges to help the clamp pop off.

Worst case scenario, you can save just a portion of a badly degraded quilt and turn it into some pillows or tiny hangings, or even one destined for a glassed display case.

@HandiQuilter

8 ай бұрын

That is a fabulous idea!!