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Do you rinse out your floss?
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Posted by calicokitty (My Page) on Mon, Jun 7, 04 at 14:41
| Instructions in my kit recommend rinsing the floss before stitching to avoid the risk of having the colors run. I've never bothered to do this before. What do you experienced stitchers have to say? Any advice? Thanks, calicokitty |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Do you rinse out your floss?
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| Due to new manufacturing restrictions to protect the environment, some floss colors aren't as fast as before, but I've never rinsed floss before using. If you're doing an item for display, and don't anticipate washing the piece before mounting, you probably don't need to worry about it. If it's an item of clothing...........weeelll, maybe you ought to rinse the floss if the kit-maker recommends it -- she put the materials together after all (of course, she could just be covering herself against disaster!). The thing is, if a finished piece gets wet for whatever reason and a color or two starts to run, you can deal with it by just rinsing the piece in cool running water until it stops running. I've done some clothing gifts and generally recommend that the recipients do a hand-wash of the item for its first wash, just so they can keep an eye on possible color bleeds. |
RE: Do you rinse out your floss?
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| I test the reds and some of the dark colors to see if they will run. Usually a snip of floss in a small glass of hot water will tell you if a red or dark color will run. When it comes to making waste knots, I have gone to the wet the fingers, roll the thread end, and knot method when necessary. A needle threader does save time threading a fine needle (mature eyes). Because of EPA concerns, the manufacturers had to change the way they dyed the floss which made some of the colors, particularly reds, a bit less color fast. When I finish a project, I always hand wash with liquid detergent in cold or lukewarm water and rinse with the same temperature. After it is dry, I iron on a bath towel with the design facing the towel to get any wrinkles out and the heat usually sets the dyes. |
RE: Do you rinse out your floss?
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| I don't for DMC (I do for overdyes, but rarely use these). Sometimes the color doesn't show it's bleeding until it's in the process of drying. Then you want to use ICE WATER and keep replacing the water and ice until the excess color comes out. It's easier to remove the excess if the project hadn't completely dried. |
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