Tonight I'm working on another twill towel, and have gone back to a Swedish Berga cottolin in another shade of blue and treadling it differently as I have for each towel, so though they are all coming off the same warp, each towel is one-of-a-kind.
As I wrote awhile back, this is a 10 shaft twill. This time treadling is 1-5, 10-6, varying the repeats so I can change sides I begin and end colors on.
The other day I was working on another twill towel, this time with Borgs red cottolin for the accent/border color. However, when I washed the towel, the red had run, in spots, into the white along the edge of the border. It looked okay when it came out of the washer, but when removed from the dryer, there were definite pink spots. This red was definitely not colorfast.
Tonight, the red border towel became an experiment. It went into the washer with Retayne and hot water. When the cycle was done, I looked and though there was still a bit of pink it did look better. After a second wash with Retayne, it again looked a bit better. With the third wash I added Synthrapol, again with hot water. Soon I will check it again and hopefully toss it into the dryer. I'll let you know how it comes out.
As the labels on the Synthrapol and Retayne bottles suggest possible cancer issues, I had not wanted to use it on a towel that might be used in a kitchen. When it became an experiment to see if the towel could be saved, I set those concerns aside. This particular towel will not be sold because of what was used on it. The Borgs red cottolin? It's in the trash. I do have some Berga red cottolin and will try that on the next towel and will report on that, too.
As I wrote awhile back, this is a 10 shaft twill. This time treadling is 1-5, 10-6, varying the repeats so I can change sides I begin and end colors on.
The other day I was working on another twill towel, this time with Borgs red cottolin for the accent/border color. However, when I washed the towel, the red had run, in spots, into the white along the edge of the border. It looked okay when it came out of the washer, but when removed from the dryer, there were definite pink spots. This red was definitely not colorfast.
Tonight, the red border towel became an experiment. It went into the washer with Retayne and hot water. When the cycle was done, I looked and though there was still a bit of pink it did look better. After a second wash with Retayne, it again looked a bit better. With the third wash I added Synthrapol, again with hot water. Soon I will check it again and hopefully toss it into the dryer. I'll let you know how it comes out.
As the labels on the Synthrapol and Retayne bottles suggest possible cancer issues, I had not wanted to use it on a towel that might be used in a kitchen. When it became an experiment to see if the towel could be saved, I set those concerns aside. This particular towel will not be sold because of what was used on it. The Borgs red cottolin? It's in the trash. I do have some Berga red cottolin and will try that on the next towel and will report on that, too.
4 comments:
Too bad about the red running!
I wonder if Retayne is what's in the Shout Color Catchers? (Not saying that they'd have prevented this problem.) Red is pesky that way!
Sue
Someone just wrote me about those sheets last night, they are new to me, I'd never heard of them. I'll be picking some up tomorrow night! Thanks for letting me know, Sue.
Back to the last few inches in this blue border towel, then some work outside.
Thanks for the heads up on the Borgs red....I have a bunch of it, so will make sure I use it carefully. I think that the Shout sheets could be a great idea.
There is nothing wrong with Borgs, just the stability of the dye in the red that I had. I'll be adding those dye magnet sheets to my laundry room.
I know traditionally, even in fabric, reds and greens (and black) were the colors to be careful with.
I experience the same thing with a couple colors of the yarns I use in sock-making, particularly a wine/Bordeaux color and Black. It's just excess/fugitive dye, but I don't like them going out to customers until I get as much out as possible.
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