Have you ever heard of Color Catcher?
Color Catcher sheets are very much like fabric softener dryer sheets, only instead of putting them in the dryer, you put them into the washing machine. They're for catching any color that might bleed out of whatever you're washing. (You can find them in the laundry products aisle of your store.)
I had occasion to try them for the first time recently. I was washing a couple new fabrics before sewing them, and I wanted to make sure they wouldn't bleed onto each other. I used two Color Catcher sheets, just to make sure, since the first step in the directions said to use two for new garments.
They did the job, and here are a couple of quickly-taken-in-poor-light photos to show you how they turned out. The center sheet is a new, unused one, and on either side is a used sheet.
You can certainly tell the difference. There was a little bit of bleeding, although it was probably not enough that it would've affected either fabric.
It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about dye bleeds anymore. I can think of numerous occasions in the past when I held my breath washing something new in with other clothing!
(No, this was not an ad and I was not compensated in any way. It was just my own personal experience.)
8 comments:
Wash before you sew? You are so good!! I know a few formerly white tee shirts that sure wish I'da heard of this sooner!! Thanks for the info.
Color Catchers are a modern wonder, aren't they?
I use them when I wash a new quilt, and often tuck one into the card with washing instructions when I give a quilt. I'm in the No Prewashing Camp of the quilting world. If I had to prewash and press every bit of fabric for quilting, I'd never get to the cutting and sewing process. I just try to make good fabric selections, use Color Catchers, and cross my fingers when I wash the finished product.
No, no, no Annie Dee... I'm not as good as you might think! Ha! I confess that I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've washed fabrics before sewing them. I only do it for special circumstances, like this... well, you'll see when it's finished. ;)
I'm with you, Kris! The ironing alone is reason enough to not prewash! Plus like for bags, it takes off the stain-resistant finish and nice crispness that new fabrics have. Then again, some people prewash specifically to get rid of those chemicals due to allergies, etc. I know some sewers who prewash 'everything'!
Since we are the first of april, I thought this was a joke... I didn't know color catcher sheets existed haha
That's pretty funny, Genevieve! :) I don't think I'm clever enough to have thought up something as good as that. ;)
I use these ALL THE TIME (still sort out colours anyway... ) silly little tip: before tossing the used sheets, I use them to dust ;)
They're pretty little for holding much dust... but every little bit helps, right? You probably have lots less dust than I do to tackle. Come to think of it, what IS dusting? ;) Just another thing to take away from sewing time, in my book. Then again, maybe if I just did one CC sheet's worth at a time, it wouldn't be so bad. ;)
Bah you know, just a quick little sweep here or there... Not using these to dust the whole house ;) this said we don't have too much dust here anyway
Post a Comment