Wednesday, February 4, 2015

washing and drying the quilt

first wash - dirty water!
The spectacular Princess Feather quilt I found yesterday needed a bath, so that's what it got. I gently soaked it in cold water with a little Dawn dishwashing liquid, soaked and rinsed it a few times until the water came clear. Before soaking, I made sure the red fabric would be colorfast. I knew it would be, because it's Turkey Red, a fabric known for colorfastness.

second rinse, more dirty water
soaking before final rinse
when the water came clean, it was time to drain and dry
When the water finally came clean, I drained the tub, gently pressed as much water as possible out of the quilt, and rolled it into a laundry basket. It was then carefully spread out on a table covered with absorbent towels covered with a bedsheets. Several hours later, I rolled the quilt back and removed the damp towels and sheet, and spread out the quilt again, leaving it to finish drying on the clean, plastic tables.
before washing
after washing, partially dry, white getting brighter as it dries
As it dried, I made sure the quilt was as flat as possible and the edges were as straight, so the drying also served to block the quilt. It's almost dry now, less than 24 hours later. There is still some discoloration and staining, but it appears to have improved with washing. As it dried, the white got brighter, and the quilt took on the crisp feeling of an air-dried textile. Will try to get another photo this week to see what it looks like side-by-side with the "before" shot. Stay tuned...

14 comments:

  1. Wow, good work! How's your back? :-)

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  2. I love to see this gentle process prortrayed! Thanks for sharing Bill

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  3. This is such a beautiful quilt- it deserves all the gentle love this washing provided!

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  4. Thanks for proving it can be done. I bought two "faded beauties" because they are such great designs and are fantastically quilted. But, they are so dirty I can't stand to handle them. I'm going to try washing one. It's like an dirty old matted dog, once I clean it up it will be lovable. The other has those browns that self destruct. I don't think it can take a wash.

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  5. Wow, that sounds like a process! The quilt is very pretty, though. Cleaning it really helped bring out the contrast between the red and white fabric.

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  6. It's beautiful and now it's thanking you for the bath that made it brighter and whiter. I'm glad you shared and look forward to the comparison picture.

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  7. Your bathroom is so clean! I appreciate your showing how gentle this bath was for the quilt... if it was sentient it certainly would know it has a wonderful loving new home :)

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  8. That water is dirty but getting it clean with dry cycles is very impressive. I really, really love this quilt - it is just gorgeous a gorgeous patter and I can see how much brighter it already looks. I am so impressed.

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  9. What a gorgeous, gorgeous find! I'm so glad it's looking better after its bath. I hope you can include some close shots of the quilting in the "after" pictures (pretty please). I am intrigued by the interlocking leaves idea and always enjoy and am inspired by beautiful handquilting.

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  10. At first I thought the photos were like some odd artsy photographs lol. Thanks for the info.

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  11. wow! this looks fab! good idea for old antique bedding! i have a few quilts that could use this treatment

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  12. How did you test for red colorfastness? And how would you have proceeded to wash the quilt if the red had run? Thanks

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    1. You get a white washcloth, dampen it with water, gently wipe on fabric, and if any color comes off it's not colorfast. If the red was not colorfast, I wouldn't have washed it. I knew as soon as I saw the fabric that it was colorfast. It's Turkey Red. But I did a quick test just to be sure,

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