AROUND THE FRAME

The Laundry Yoda

If a quilt stain wreaks havoc on quilt scheme and you want it removed, proceed with caution.

The last article mentions someone who had a disaster that could have been prevented. A lady calls me and asks what can be done with her indigo (blue jeans blue) quilt. A treasured piece, someone advised her to wash it. She places the quilt in her washing machine and when she pulls it out she discovers the blue dye bled out. A Quilt Crime Investigation (QCI) proves the cause of death is carelessness-the woman was never informed to test the fabric for color-fastness before attempting to wash it. Wetting a Q-tip or a small piece of white cloth and pressing it against the fabric would have indicated to her the dye wasn’t stable and not to wash it.

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If the fabric is color-fast and you want to attempt to remove a stain, journey and seek Laundry Yodas to assist you. The Laundry Yodas in my life are women I find working in laundry mats. These wise sages combat every stain imaginable and know how to safely deal with them. My favorite Yodas inhabit the Crown Cleaners-Georgetown. Their sage advice (Ivory BAR soap, NOT Ivory liquid) has removed or lightened many a stain for me. I’m certain there isn’t a laundry mat around that doesn’t have at least one Laundry Yoda who can assist. You must go early in the morning. Your project may take a few hours to complete. If you wait until mid-afternoon, wet-behind-the ears college kids who only know how to collect money and hand back laundry may be running the place.

A few years ago I had a woman bring me an appliqué quilt her two-year-old daughter scribbled on with a felt-tip penMy first inclination, since most of the scribble was on the appliqué portion was to take off the pieces and determine if they could be washed. By removing the pieces there would be no danger of the ink spreading to the surrounding fabric. If all else failed, the plain colored appliqué pieces could be matched and new fabric applied. My second thought was the damage was done by a felt ink pen, a piece of modern technology. Certainly this isn’t the first piece of cloth to sustain ink scribbles, so why not ask someone who removes modern stains— a drycleaner! I asked the woman to take the quilt to her neighborhood dry cleaner and ask their advice. Five dollars and five minutes later, Voila! –the stain was gone. I proceeded to repair loose seams and stitching and the quilt was “born again”.

If you have a quilting question, call Lois at 515-9446 or visit her Web site at www.bornagainquilts.com.