Thread bleed *update*

[MimiFL]

Help!

 

I've just finished a rather large doily (17") in Christmas colors. It's beautiful and I had just finished pinning it to the blocking board. I sprayed it with water as I usually do and went back later to check on it. To my surprise, the red had bled over a few rows of white and they were now pink!

 

I'm using Royale in white and victory red. I've used these colors before, on doilies I've blocked, and never had a problem with bleeding.

 

Has anyone had this problem before? If so, do you think it's likely to happen again? What can I do to keep it from happening?

 

And what can I do to correct the problem (if it can be corrected)?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

[loopyliz]

Oh, MimiFL, that is terrible news about your beautiful doily! I have never had that happen before and I've used red thread many times. I wonder if you could use a bleach pen on the white areas. That would let you spot-clean the affected areas without harming the rest of the coloring. I've never used a bleach pen, though, so I'm not sure how it would actually work. That's my only thought. Hang in there, though, I'm sure someone else will come along with a solution for you. Good luck.

[Katchkan]

I just finished a runner that I had the same problem with. I contacted Coats and Clarks and they advised me to wash it in warm water until the water ran clear. This will only work though if it hasn't dried. Once it has dried the color is pretty much set. You might email them and ask if they have any solutions.

So Sorry that this happened to you to. I know the feeling of absolute fustration that you are going through.

[Leoism]

I had the same thing happen to a much smaller thing I was making these christmas ornamints and I was using a red and a white and had the same thing happen..It made me mad for a had spent a large peice of time on them and only saw that they bled...What to do what to do...I am going to try to wash the thread prior to making anything next time.

[Goldkeeper]

Mimi,

 

I feel your pain ..I also do alot of cross-stitch and it is advised in some patterns that uses alot of reds mainly or dark colors to wash the thread before you use it ..Well, me sometimes trying to do something fast did not wash my theads for a project and sure enough just by touching and using the thread it stained the cloth.. allot more xxx's I had to do to cover the mess.. ..I was told by a stitcher to use equal parts of hydrogen peroxde with water and use Q-tips to dab the stain and use lots of paper towels under to absorb it..I personally have not used this method ..So maybe you can test it with some extra thread to see if it would work ..

[MimiFL]

It's completely dry now.

 

If the white were on the outside, I would redo it, but it's the middle part (there's several rows of green after it) so that's not an option.

 

The only good thing I can see is that I ended up not blocking another doily with the same color combination because I was too lazy (and that one's my favorite pattern). Now I'm really glad I didn't. It was made from the same ball of red, so I need to figure out how to block it safely. (Is it possible that not all thread balls will have this problem and I just got a bad one?)

 

Think I'll try the hydrogen peroxide thing. And if that doesn't work, the bleach pen. I was wondering is baking soda could work. What do you think?

[MimiFL]

Here's an update on this.

 

The other day, I decided to try the hydrogen peroxide (the bleach pen said you had to wash the piece afterward, so it couldn't have any colors in it). I got the dental stuff (Peroxyl, I think?), so didn't have to dilute it, as it only contains 1% peroxide anyway.

 

I used Q tips to apply it to the white stitches - you have to use quite a bit, so it's a bit on the time-consuming side. Left it outside a day, and the result was the stitches were much less pink. I applied a second layers of the peroxide, and again left it outside a day. Then I applied water with paper towels.

 

I have to say, I'm amazed at the results. The pink is about 98% gone, and you'd really have to look at the thread very closely to even know there ever was a problem. Here's how it looks now:

 

 

A big thanks to you all for your help with this. I'm a happy camper.

[bjc1050]

Looks great! I don't see any pink.

[I-crochet-2]

Mimi. you can contact the company that makes the thread and let them know what happened. They might even throw in some freebies.

[MimiFL]

Oh yes, I was going to do that but forgot. Thanks for the reminder.

[lhasaapsolady]

What a shame they bled, but it looks wonderful after all the time you put in getting it back to white.

[jura2908]

glad to hear you were able to correct it. i can not see any discoloration in the white. you did a great job on it.

 

nadine