So I get really impatient rinsing out dye. The studio is upstairs at the back of the house, and the washer is downstairs, and for such a small amount of fabric it seems silly to run the washer, right? Wrong.
I know that red is generally the most likely color to run, and I know I'm supposed to rinse until the water looks clear enough to drink. But do I have to? Here's some pretty clear rinse water, next to plain water for comparison.
I took the fabric rinsed in that water and set it, damp, on some white fabric. When a friend washed a red & white quilt my sister had made, she laid it out on a patio table to dry. The bits lying flat didn't bleed, but the parts hanging down over the edge did. So I set my stuff vertical, on a board. Will it bleed?
Uhh, yes.
So my lesson has been learned.
As I rinse and rinse fabric by hand, I have wondered what factors are most effective at really rinsing? What matters most? Very hot water? Lots of water? Many changes of water? Letting it soak? Agitation? Enough synthrapol (detergent for dye)?
I don't know the answer, but my current intuition is that agitation is what you want a lot of, and the washer can do that way more better than I can (or have patience for). My new approach is to:
* pull the fabric from the dye
* rinse it in the sink enough that it won't easily bleed against itself or another piece of fabric
* hang it dry not touching something else
* set it aside until I have a reasonable amount of fabric for the smallest washer load, and run it three times (with synthrapol)
And if I have some fabric that's been machine washed already, I might throw it in the washer with another batch on its second round.
When possible I've been ironing the damp fabric right after taking it out of the washer, just because it looks so BEE-OOOTIFUL all steam pressed. It's one of those magical transformations, like blocking a sweater or fulling some handwoven fabric, or pressing a quilt block.
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