Monday, June 21, 2010

Fixed?


Thanks, everyone who offered suggestions about the bleed.  I tried Tide stain stick, and it faded it a bit, but I could also see more bleeding appear around the edge on the front of the quilt from the wetting.  I decided against a full washing because I was afraid of worse bleeding that would come through to the front, and also I was concerned about too much shrinking with the wool batt.  That would have been a totally different look than I had planned, and I don't know how it would have affected the total look.

So, I took out some quilting stitches, and used something called Pentel dye sticks, which seem to be very waxy and crayon-like.  It then occurred to me that actual crayons might work too, so I added them.  Wish I'd thought of that first because the color match was better and the sharper point worked well with the pattern on the backing.  Then I used a hot iron to set both and remove the waxy stuff.  It's better; it looks like a slightly darker section of the fabric, and doesn't jump out at you like the pink did.  But if you look closely you can see something is odd.  (There is actually less pink visible in reality than in this picture.)

I was afraid I'd made the wrong choice and was too timid, but just heard from someone with a horror story about trying to remove a bleed with Synthrapol, so I feel better.  Next step will be to distract by adding a very elaborate label!

I'll also try to remember that the oil spill is worse.

10 comments:

*karendianne. said...

What a journey this is. ...and yeah, putting it into perspective does help.

The Calico Cat said...

the oil spill is worse

There is that, you can file that one next to "Done is better than perfect."

&

"I quilt for pleasure."

& I saw one more that so worked with my POV on quilting, but I can not remember it. SHOOT!

Rian said...

Wow, that looks good. I didn't have a clue what to tell you to do, so I was glad to learn that the stain stick worked. Yay. Whew.

Debra Dixon said...

I bet it will fly under the radar now!

Barbara C said...

Oh dear, this is a scary problem to fix at the last stages of your quilt. I'm glad you found some good solutions. I would probably go for a big label if this happened to me.

Unknown said...

I'm with Barbara, big label. And why is it the law of nature that right at the end of a project something needs to be fixed or repaired? It happens way too often.

Nellie's Needles said...

whew!

Suzanne Kistler said...

Glad you were able to fix it!
When I read your post, I cringed. Been there, done that!! I try to tell myself it's "an unexpected design opportunity," but you know and I know that it's nothing of the sort!

I've also had some luck with Retayne when it comes to removing bleeding and/or migrating dyes...

Barbara Strobel Lardon said...

Scary! We all learned from it though so thanks for sharing some of your trials. I bet most would not know it if you do not say anything and once your label is on no one will pay attention to it.

Now I really want to see the front!

Judy Hartman said...

Your last line made me laugh, altho' the oil spill is certainly not funny. Getting perspective always helps!
I feel like I've been in your exact situation many times, trying to "fix" a disaster in my work! Looks like you have it conquered!!