Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Black Fabric Fiasco

So, I've been working on this project, piecing letters and star blocks, and using solid black fabric as the background for all of them. I had some black fabric in my regular stash, but when I used that up, I went hunting, and found a big piece - about 3 yards - in a cardboard box. I had an UFO (unfinished object, a common term for us quilters!) in the box, including many pieced blocks, and the large piece of solid black. Do you see where this post is going? I cut off a large piece of the black, about 1/2 yard, and started to press it. Black dust and lint were everywhere! On the ironing board, on the floor, and on me. I decided to wash that piece, and the remaining 2+ yards - so into the washing machine they went!
And this is what came out! I was upstairs when Scott removed them from the washer, and I could hear him exclaim when he saw it! He was shocked, to say the least! What could I say? We had a good laugh over it, and now I have to decide how to proceed.
Last night, I hand washed all of my completed blocks and letters, and I think I can salvage all but about 4 of the letters. I could definitely tell which ones had the "bad" black fabric - it left a ring in the sink! Apparently, the acids in cardboard boxes leach into the fabric, and cause it to break down. I had just never seen proof of it until now!

2 comments:

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

there was a bad batch of black fabric quite a few years back. You could just pull a little and it would start tearing. I remember having to throw out a whole bolt at the store.

Unknown said...

wow...............Beautiful

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