How to remove bleeding from red fabric......How to wash a quilt!! And....Homemade Spray & Wash

Katie made the most adorable Grinch King sized quilt.  When she washed it the red bleed onto the white and was a total mess.  She called me quite upset that she had ruined her new quilt.  She had even dried it in the dryer.  I was doubtful but I started researching the web and this is what she did to fix it......it was a miracle!!!  These pictures don't show just how bad it really was. 


How to remove bleeding from red fabric......How to wash a quilt!!  And.....Homemade Spray & Wash

Recipe to remove fabric bleeding.
Soak the quilt in the bath tub in cold water to get it all wet. 
Then she put it in the washer with 1 Tablespoon of DAWN blue liquid soap and 4 Color Grabber sheets and washed it in HOT water.  Yes the HOTTEST water the fabric can stand, at least 140 degrees.
She was amazed at how well it worked. 
Then she sprayed the quilt with my homemade Spray and Wash**  and rubbed it into the quilt.
She  repeated the HOT water wash with the Dawn & Color Grabbers.  Amazing enough it is good as new!!! 
Then she rinsed the quilt in 1 cup of white vinegar to set the colors.  NOTE:  THIS IS HOW SHE SHOULD HAVE WASHED THE QUILT IN THE FIRST PLACE!  NO LAUNDRY SOAP JUST 1 CUP OF WHITE VINEGAR IN A COLD WATER WASH. 

Quilts are a ton of work and should be washed carefully.  I always wash my quilts just with vinegar water.  Vinegar sets the color and is a gentle disinfectant.  If the quilt is really dirty you might want to add a little laundry soap.  And hang them up to dry.  I rarely put a quilt in the dryer. 


** Spray and Wash recipe:  1 part Dawn and 2 parts Hydrogen Peroxide.  Shake together in a spray bottle. 

Thru this process we discovered this list of uses for Dawn dishsoap.  It is really good stuff for lots of things! 

 https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/uses-for-dawn-dish-soap

 Almost as good as new!!!  Definitely a mireacle!!! 

There is a product the web recommended called Synthrapol.  Katie went everywhere we could think of to find it and never found it.  So we reverted to using Dawn.  This hint left by a lady was helpful to us.    https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/dawn-detergent-good-synthrapol-t236974-2.html

"neither Synthrapol nor Dawn will set dyes. All they do is suspend unset dye particles in water so they are rinsed away instead of settling into fabric fibers.

Most fabric that "bleeds" has had dyes correctly set by the manufacturer but have not been rinsed sufficiently. Fibers can absorb only a limited amount of dye particles. Excess dye particles that are not rinsed away by the manufacturer end up in color catchers (such as those in your test run). Most of these excess dye particles come out in the first wash, and subsequent washes have color catchers that come out pretty clean.

When the manufacturer does not actually set the dye properly, the end result is a "bleeder" fabric that never stops bleeding. It's not just a problem of excess dye particles (more dye particles than the fibers can absorb) not being rinsed away; it's a problem of all dye particles not being permanently set into the fibers. Synthrapol and Dawn will prevent these loose dye particles from settling into other fabrics, but they will not stop the fabric from bleeding in future washes." 

This site has good information too:    http://www.quiltersclubofamerica.com/forums/t/19977.aspx