Color bleeding on quilt...help!

[Norma H.]

Hi - I just looked quickly through some of the other posts on color bleeding, but wanted to see if I could get more specific advice. First of all, I've never had this happen...I always put 2 or 3 Color Catchers in the washing machine with the quilt (I don't pre-wash fabrics, btw). The quilt I finished just before this one was screaming bright yellow linen with bright teal, red, brown green, etc. piecing...nothing bled on that quilt.

But this one was mostly a mid-gray silk dupioni pieced with a gorgeous white linen. It appears the silk dupioni bled onto the white linen in spots...arrghh. Even though the dupioni wasn't cheap, I have no idea of the origin and am guessing cheaply dyed. Oh well - doesn't matter at this point.

Anyway - should I wash it again with synthrapol in hot water and keep my fingers crossed? Or lay wet color catchers on those areas and hope they soak up the excess? This is for a Christmas present, so I do have a few days to work on this.

Thanks! Cleta

[Margo C.]

I've never worked with silk, so I'm not sure how to advise you. If it were cotton, I would definitely follow Vicki Welsh's advice about using HOT water with Synthrapol and leave it to soak.

There are a couple of pages of info:
forum/help-im-stuck/4991-advice-about-retayne

[Margo C.]

Thanks,Margo! I have a front loading machine, so not sure about getting enough water to soak the quilt in...it's king size. I am not worried about the hot water hurting the silk. Maybe I will try a long hot wash cycle with synthrapol and a bunch of color catchers and see what happens.

Cleta