Fast way to remove excess dye in woolen fabric?
I am doing a craft project for my daughters. I needed felt but couldn’t find any, so I bought a wool mix fabric. I’ve spent the last two hours boiling pans and trying to get the excess dye out and make it felt at the same time. The water is still not running clear and I have parboiled hands from rubbing it down with soap, rinsing it and sticking it in a pan of boiling water again!
Help!
Thanks
Thank you!
I will try the vinegar and see if that works. I am trying to make washable rugs for my daughters who are both asthmatic and allergic to mites. I bought some bathroom rugs (chenille type) and I want to cut out flowers and butterflies and sew them on. They shouldn’t really have rugs in their rooms, but the floor is just too cold, we have no heating, so I need stuff I can wash often.
I need the fabric to stop bleeding so I can wash it safe in the knowledge that the flowers etc won’t ruin the rugs.
I’m not sure what mix I bought: I live in China, there are no second hand shops and there’s only so much I can convey.. and so much honesty I get in return. They actually gave me 2 different types of fabric, so I’ve had to throw away 2 colours already because of excessive fraying already… Nice people. lol.
OK, this whole thing is now officially branded a disaster! Thanks to all who replied!
I now have parboiled hands, a very hairy washing machine (because I did give in in the end) and I had the glorious idea of putting the 4 lighter colours together in the washing machine with a sheet of colour catcher and -in my infinite wisdom- a cot sheet and an old towel. The whole lot is now yellow, I’ve just been bleaching and realised that the towel was one my eldest was given as a birth present. Aaaargh.
I think I should have broken my leg yesterday, rather than do all this!!
The morale of the story is that if you want to be lazy and use felt so it doesn’t fray and you don’t have to sew the edges, get your act together and get proper washable fabric, make several layers, and sew them on together!!!
Booohoooo hooooooooo
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Unless your daughters are making clothing which will need to be washed in future, don’t bother. No felting should take hours of boiling! And no mixed fibre fabric will felt in the same say as pure wool. Stop!
It might be easier to have the kids knit some wool yarn and felt that. Have you tried shopping secondhand stores for old wool sweaters?
I agree that this is too much. You can try a splash of vinegar to see if the wool soaks up the dye. The dye in this wool was not made to be washed like this. Colorfastness was not an issue. It may never run clear. My son’s wool diaper covers often give off dye, making a pretty pastel diaper.
Soak the fabric in cool water with a couple of cups of white vinegar for 20 minutes or so. This will make the wool bind with some of the excess dye so that it won’t bleed as much.
Then switch to hot (not boiling, but almost too hot to touch) water with about a teaspoon of dishsoap in it. Work the wool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then plunge it into cold water and work it until the soap comes out.
What would happen if you just threw it in the washer with some detergent? That might wreck the whole thing I guess, but maybe it will work. When I used to color my hair and it came out too dark, I’d wash it with Prell shampoo and that took a big chunk of color out.