Dye-Setting Batik Fabrics-NOW, What Color Thread??

[speckledhen]

I've rarely used batiks due to their cost, but I was searching for a rose color, super hard to find right now. I see reds, I see pinks of all shades, I see burgundy, I see barn red, but hardly any I'd call rose. Anyway, the closet that Hobby Lobby had was a batik, so I got 1/4 yard to use in the home stretch of this log cabin quilt, since I was running out of my rose tones. I put it in a bowl of hot water and soaked and squeezed, and soaked and squeezed, added soap, soaked and squeezed ten more times and the water still has pink in it.

Since this quilt is in teal and rose but has some lighter fabrics with off white and beige in addition to the main colors, I don't want to put this in a quilt if I can't set the dye. I've heard of a product called Retayne, but it's expensive and I've spent a lot on this already, haven't even gotten the batting for it yet. They say vinegar will not set dyes in batiks. So, is there anything else I can do to set the dye in this batik or should I just save it to use with darker colors where some minor bleeding won't show up?

 

[speckledhen]

I have a different question-the batik one apparently stumped folks and I got it squared away.

This quilt is being assembled. The back is a light rose colored print, but the front is in roses, fuchsias and teal/turquoise. What color thread would YOU use the quilt this? At first, I thought maybe a super light gray that would not fight any of the colors nor become a focal point of it. There is no gray in the quilt-the customer did not want grays, but creams, beiges, etc, if I had to go with other colors in there. So, would you go with the gray thread or would you do something like a fuchsia pink color? I am only concerned about it being too much across the blue/green tones.
Here is the quilt on my design wall (it will have a 3-4" deep rose border, too)

Sorry about my camera-it makes blues look too blue and deep roses look too red. I have a light gray, very thin thread and I bought a sort of brighter, deep pink as well. @NanaKat what do you think?



This sort of pink, which is similar to some of the lighter rose-pink colors in the quilt, keeping in mind that after the quilting and the washing to make it all "crinkly-quilty", it will not be "in your face". So, gray, pink or some other choice for this? Bear in mind that the colors are definitely deep roses to fuchsia, not true reds.

 

[Zoomie]

Gosh, I should check this part of the forum more often, I did not see this. To set dye, you can try salt. I've always used it in hot water, but it's helpful in getting certain classes of dye to set. Depending again on the class of dye used, you can add a little vinegar, too, but I'd try the salt, and I hope, since your OP is from several days ago, that this problem was solved already.

As far as your thread? My first thought was, a sort of dove grey. A warm grey, IOW. Although I must admit a cool grey would look nice too.

What a gorgeous quilt! Beautiful work!!

ETA: spelled "salt" wrong...

 

[speckledhen]

Gosh, I should check this part of the forum more often, I did not see this. To set dye, you can try salt. I've always used it in hot water, but it's helpful in getting certain classes of dye to set. Depending again on the class of dye used, you can add a little vinegar, too, but I'd try the salt, and I hope, since your OP is from several days ago, that this problem was solved already.

As far as your thread? My first thought was, a sort of dove grey. A warm grey, IOW. Although I must admit a cool grey would look nice too.

What a gorgeous quilt! Beautiful work!!

ETA: spelled "salt" wrong...

Hey! Thanks for checking this section. I was feeling lonely in here for a bit, LOL. They say batiks won't set dye with salt. I actually did try vinegar and salt and no dice. I just keep soaking it in hot water over and over and over......and over and over again. Finally, it came through the wash with a color catcher that didn't show dye transfer so I could use it, but I was prepared to chuck it and use it in a project where it would not matter if it bled a tiny bit.

This is the gray I have, called Light Gray. I had never used it before, was testing it while piecing. It's a very thin thread, but very strong. So far, I like it. Miss Prissy (Angie) turned me onto Maxi Lock serger thread for a very cost effective thread that comes in a billion (well, 72) colors, but I saw this at Hobby Lobby and thought I'd grab it and try it.

 

[Zoomie]

@speckledhen That color looks great! Have you tried it on any scraps from your quilt? The fact that it's thin is good, I think, in that thinner thread shows less, and the big deal here is the lovely piecing Having the quilting be subtle seems like a good thing to me for the impact of this art work.

Glad you solved the dye problem. That is so annoying when one can not exhaust the dye pot and get the color to set correctly.

ETA: "Here", not "her". Good grief, I can't spell today!!

 

[speckledhen]

@speckledhen That color looks great! Have you tried it on any scraps from your quilt? The fact that it's thin is good, I think, in that thinner thread shows less, and the big deal here is the lovely piecing Having the quilting be subtle seems like a good thing to me for the impact of this art work.

Glad you solved the dye problem. That is so annoying when one can not exhaust the dye pot and get the color to set correctly.

ETA: "Here", not "her". Good grief, I can't spell today!!

Your spelling issue sounds like my "sew the fabric to the wrong side" issue. I did it twice on the same piece yesterday. What a chore to "un-sew" it all.

I agree that when you have a visually busy quilt, the quilting itself needs to be secondary, not the star of the piece. Good point. I have only pieced with that thread so far. It's a 3000 yd spool so it should have plenty to finish the entire quilt. I always used to use only 100% cotton until Angie told me she used only the Maxi-Lock in her big Tin Lizzie machine so I tried it. Goes a loooong way! And professional quilters often use the polyester serger-type threads or embroidery threads in their quilts so I expanded my horizons. It's much more cost effective, generally, for the same yardage. The cotton would have cost about $12-15 for the same amount.

 

[NanaKat]

Beautiful quilt Cynthia!

Yes, I would go with the light gray thread too. By the time you have the quilting done and the washing, the thread color will be secondary to the texture of the surface...crinkly-quilty...Lol.
Grays are more neutral to the eye than tans or creams.

The pink would be great for the backing, but would show too much on the teal/turquoise.

Glad you got the batik color to finally bled out enough to use. Next time try boiling a selvage strip in water with equal measures of baking soda and canning salt (no iodine). Some dyes are simply too "bloody" to set easily...reds are the worst.

 

[speckledhen]

Beautiful quilt Cynthia!

Yes, I would go with the light gray thread too. By the time you have the quilting done and the washing, the thread color will be secondary to the texture of the surface...crinkly-quilty...Lol.
Grays are more neutral to the eye than tans or creams.

The pink would be great for the backing, but would show too much on the teal/turquoise.

Glad you got the batik color to finally bled out enough to use. Next time try boiling a selvage strip in water with equal measures of baking soda and canning salt (no iodine). Some dyes are simply too "bloody" to set easily...reds are the worst.

Thank you, Kathryn! I really wanted you to pop in here. I sort of had that feeling, that the pink would be fighting too much to be the star. With so much going on in this quilt, the fabrics in addition to the barn raising arrangement, the thread really ought to just be a wallflower.
On a side note, I put a bunch of historic prints in my shopping cart at Thousands of Bolts, but didn't hit checkout yet. I love historic prints! But, I have spent so much recently, plus had all the scraps from this quilt, too, I think I need to make something else with these. Though my customer did not want grays in the fabric, I think I will add some nice grays to the roses and turquoise/teals and do another log cabin variation, maybe the chevron? I'm not sure how to to it since it really is different, not two distinct sides to it.
This one, but of course, in the other colors:



Yeah, you like my term "crinkly-quilty"? Seems descriptive enough, right?

 

[Zoomie]

That's a great idea, @speckledhen I like that pattern.

I try to use up scraps too but it can be challenging. Recently I've started on miniature quilts. They are pretty fun, and it's really great to get some of those teeny weeny scraps used up. I should not keep such small pieces but there it is, I have a hard time throwing away a scrap that "might" be useful, especially if I really like the fabric.

 

[speckledhen]

That's a great idea, @speckledhen I like that pattern.

I try to use up scraps too but it can be challenging. Recently I've started on miniature quilts. They are pretty fun, and it's really great to get some of those teeny weeny scraps used up. I should not keep such small pieces but there it is, I have a hard time throwing away a scrap that "might" be useful, especially if I really like the fabric.

Me, too, but my hands have a hard time dealing with tiny pieces. I used to like making what they call big block quilts, no little pieces, lots of progress FAST. I have rubbermaid tubs of scraps of useable sizes. I throw away those that I'm sure I won't ever use. Maybe I ought to send them to you!