I try to pre-wash my fabric and get it neatly into my stash as soon as possible. On Friday, I got my first Patchwork City BOM kit, the rest of the fabric I need for my king sized ninja quilt, and I picked up some other odds and ends. As always, there was some other fabric around here that I hadn't yet pre-washed. So the last couple days have been spent pre-washing and ironing. The washing end is in sight (there's still a healthy pile of ironing left!) and this morning I put in one of the last groups of fabrics, including some Cotton & Steel Viewfinders, some lovely Alison Glass Sun Prints, and some solid purple yardage. Darks. So I threw in a couple color catchers. Then I started up the washer and went about my morning.
When I came back to move the fabric to the dryer I was a bit confused at first. I opened the washer and picked up the top piece of fabric, and three color catchers. Hm. I thought I only put in two. Perhaps there was one in there from the previous load. I started trimming the unraveled edges of the fabric and there was something on it. Crud, looks like a piece of paper or a tag somehow got into this load of fabric... ya know, like how a tissue disintegrates in the washer, little bits of brown on my fabric. :-P I dusted the fat quarter off a bit then threw it into the dryer. Then I picked up the next piece of fabric and it's covered in brown bits, and underneath it were about fifteen color catchers. In that moment I knew what had happened, I WASHED THE ENTIRE BOX OF COLOR CATCHERS! Well, at least none of the fabrics bled. ;-)
Now I'm pretty sure when a small cardboard box disintegrates into wet cardboard dust, it results in about a million little brown specks... so yeah, they weren't exactly coming off real easily. So I shook the fabric around and kinda dusted it off with my hand as best I could and start loading it into the dryer. Then I had to babysit the dryer so I could empty the lint trap when it filled up, about every 4 minutes. At least this mostly took care of the problem and a second wash and dry seems to have left all my fabric looking like new again. You non-pre-washers are pointing and laughing now, aren't you?
In summary, here's my pro tip: Don't put the entire box of Color Catchers in the wash.
Melissa Meinhard
Ugh! What a nightmare. Occasionally, my husband will leave a paper towel in his pocket and it get washed and the same thing happens :(
Wishing you luck :)
sarah
Post authorThanks, Melissa. I think I'm all squared away now. As long as I don't do it again, I'll be fine. :-)
Marji
Haha! You made me laugh, Sarah, that is totally something that would happen over here! Thanks for your candor ;-)
Bo
I hate it when I leave Kleenex in a pocket and it gunks everything up. Frustrating!! But you did tell a funny story so thank you for the chuckle!!
Roberta Pabst
Oh, darn, you're human! Who knew?
sarah
Post authorHa ha ha... yup. Just keeping it real here. :-) (P.S. I submitted my quilts today for the show!)
Jasmine
Thanks for the laugh and the warning. It could totally happen to me. I keep my color catchers in the cabinet above the washer, and I can now see the whole thing falling in...
sarah
Post authorThe trouble is if you do *not* see them fall in. ;-) Mine were balanced on top of a pile of junk on the dryer. :-/
Fawn DeMurl Carriker
Excellent advice! My latest washing disaster was last week...washed an aging bath rug with a regular load of kids' clothes, and the foam backing disintegrated all over everything. What a mess! - Fawn
sarah
Post authorOh no, Fawn! That sounds horrible!
Fawn DeMurl Carriker
It looked very much like your picture of the remains of the cardboard box! - Fawn
Laura
I confess when I saw the blurb and photo in my blog reader I was terrified that you'd had dye run and ruined all your fabric! So I'm glad it was a humorous story instead. Not the same thing, but we have wool dryer balls that we will put a drop or two of essential oil on and my husband once threw the bottle of essential oil in the dryer - that was a smelly load of laundry!
sarah
Post authorI didn't even think of that! It could certainly have been worse! Thanks for visiting. I bet that laundry smelled good for a long time. ;-)
Cheryl
That sounds like something I would do!
Joy C.
I have to say that made me laugh...only because I could totally imagine it happening to me! Thanks for sharing the real side of quilting :)
sarah
Post authorThanks for visiting, Joy. Sometimes it's really nutty. ;-)
Sparkling74
And that's why I have a front load washer. Nothing can ever fall in! And thank God for the lint trap on a drier!!
Bernie @ Needle and Foot
This is a funny post.... Made me smile. Especially since at the beginning I thought you were going to have a fabric dye issue. This was a mess but worked out ok. Glad nothing was actually ruined.
sarah
Post authorThanks, Bernie. It was too ridiculous to not share. :-)