Kestrel Makes: How I Ruined 2 Metres of Fabric

It all started so well. I had a trip to the fabric shop in the morning to get some red polka dot fabric for quilt binding, and I also got a lovely (and cheap) remnant of Robert Kaufman Circus bunting fabric, which I'd been admiring for a while.

Being a diligent seamstress about pre-washing fabric, back at home I put them in the wash along with a piece of blue fabric which needed pre-washing and a red and white striped top. When I took them out of the machine the dye from the blue had run slightly meaning that the white parts of my two fabric (and stripes of my top) and a darker tinge. No problem I thought, I'll get one of those colour correctors.

Product purchased, I returned home again and put the 2 bits of fabric and striped top into a bucket with warm water and the contents of a sachet of colour corrector. Now I will admit that it suggested you do a colour fastness test, but I thought that since the fabric was good quality cotton and the top has been washed many many times there'd be no problem.

Big mistake.

The instructions recommended leaving the items for a couple of hours and stirring every now and then. After half an hour I checked and....disaster:

All three items were ruined, with large areas of the red faded to various shades of orange.

Nooooooooooooooooo

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - a polka dot, tie-dyed-esque monstrosity

What a waste of time and fabric. I've dried them out to see if any parts of the fabric could be salvaged for other uses but really the discolouration is too widespread. Plus I don't want to look at any of the fabric again. So the fabric will be going in the bag for textile recycling and I'll have to start again.

So let this be a cautionary tale - if you have a similar problem and need to use a colour corrector, please be aware that those products are strong, and start off using cold water just to be safe. Hey, maybe even do the recommended colour fastness test first unlike me - but then how many people do one of those skin tests when they dye their hair?

K x

34 comments:

thequirkypeach16 June 2013 at 17:11
Oh no! How frustrating - but really, who does those tests - right with ya! Hope you can find some fabric you like even better :)
K.Line16 June 2013 at 17:28
Oh, that's horrible! Thank you for sharing your experience with us...
Kathryn16 June 2013 at 17:47
arrgh! I hope you did something nice afterwards to make up for it. and yes, I'd never have done the fabric test either!
Tabatha Tweedie16 June 2013 at 18:04
Oh no! Poor you. what a shame! :-(
unlabelled clothes16 June 2013 at 18:30
Oh no, how frustrating!
niddetissus16 June 2013 at 18:40
Oh no!! I'm sorry to hear that!
Claire Cooper16 June 2013 at 18:45
What a nightmare! I hate it when things like that happen.
Helen16 June 2013 at 18:55
What a nightmare!
ElleC16 June 2013 at 19:01
Well SH!T. That really sucks.
Marie16 June 2013 at 20:20
Oh noooooo! This totally sucks Kerry, I feel so bad for you...what a great waste! And no, I've never bothered with a skin test when dyeing my hair...so exactly the same would have happened to me re the colour corrector too!
Emilie16 June 2013 at 20:42
That's terrible! Such cute fabric! Thanks for the warning (even though I must admit I've never even heard of color corrector...)
Gail16 June 2013 at 21:00
Oh my gosh! You must have been devastated! So sad!
Roxy16 June 2013 at 22:23
What a disaster! We all have them so thanks for sharing so we can all learn. Hopefully you can find the fabric on sale and buy again. The circus bunting is really cute!
House of Pinheiro16 June 2013 at 22:25
Devastated for you. Use as Muslims now and thanks for sharing your lesson learn. It will save another making the same mistake
Kat16 June 2013 at 22:27
Oh noooo! Have you ever used colour catchers? They are like small sheets that you stick in with a wash and they soak up any colour. I always use one in a wash and when pre-washing fabric I stick in one or two. I have never yet had a problem - they are fabulous! You can buy them in most supermarkets/Wilkinson's etc.
Philippa16 June 2013 at 22:39
Oh how horrible and frustrating, but I am also glad you told me of this, as I would have never known this could happen. I do have to have my skin tested before dyeing as I am one of those mega allergic types, however I wouldn't have bothered with fabrics just like you :(
Amanda16 June 2013 at 23:25
Oh the humanity! That is heartbreaking! And that bunting fabric divine :( Mayhaps this fabric can be used to make muslins :)
Joy17 June 2013 at 01:29
Ugh, sorry that happened! Maybe it can be muslin fabric at least?
pajamapat17 June 2013 at 02:22
This is TOO WEIRD. The same thing happened to me this morning. I washed some denim fabric with white socks and towels in cold water. I figured that the last time I did this nothing horrible happened. I think I woke up my whole building at 8:00 a.m. screaming NOOOOOO! I took the whites and washed them in hot water and an oxygen cleaning agent and the blue came out. So sorry about what happened to you. I don't know if they make color catchers in your neck of the woods, but never again will I do this without throwing a color catcher in the wash.
bekswhoknits17 June 2013 at 03:02
I've dyed my hair constantly since I was 16 and never even once done a skin test.

I'm just starting to dye yarn, so I'm going to take a few lessons from this!
tanyamaile17 June 2013 at 03:52
So, so sorry!!! What a shame. :( Everone makes makes mistakes though
Kessem17 June 2013 at 08:48
Oh no!
To be honest I think you can still use the fabric, it may be not what you were intending at first but that tie dye affect is really cool in my opinion!
T17 June 2013 at 10:43
it's heartbreaking when your fabric transforms itself in ways you never imagined (I too, never do those pre-testing...even though I've accidentally dyed my hair sage green-a shade that with my complexion made me look genuinely ill to the extent that library patrons who usually don't look twice asked me if I was coming down with something and maybe I should go to the hospital?)

but to be honest, I still love the bunting fabric-it's not as bright and shiny as it started but now it looks almost vintage and like it got faded with sun.
Shelly17 June 2013 at 11:37
How disappointing! I did a similar thing years ago and ended up removing all the colour from a top that had collected some dye the same way as yours did. Top ruined, lesson learned :(

Take heart tho' as others have said, you can still use the fabric for muslins.
Roobeedoo17 June 2013 at 16:41
Oh NO!
What would happen if you did it again, with each item, one at a time?
Or dye the whole lot a really strong colour?
No, I don't think I could bear it either.
Anonymous17 June 2013 at 19:03
Oh, NO! I'm so sorry-- what a lousy situation!
Melizza Makes17 June 2013 at 20:15
Ack. My heart hurt when I saw the fabric. Sad day :(
Jenni17 June 2013 at 23:01
sorry to see this happened to you fabric :o( so sad
Anonymous18 June 2013 at 11:36
Nooooooooooo indeed!!! That sucks.
Lucy in the Clouds19 June 2013 at 10:54
Oh nooo what an expensive lesson :( I wouldn't even have pre-washed (unless it was old bedding which I have a lot of!) so I'm one step behind you there! x
itwasjudith21 July 2013 at 13:04
a friend of mine recently mentioned some colour absorbing little clothes that can be washed together with the clothes and would absorb the colour coming off the clothing... they seemed to work, as she mistakenly ran her coloured laundry with a 90C program and the clothes had not stained the other clothes :)