Fabric Care Facts
Do Fusible Products Harm Fabrics?
Fusible Products - Could they Harm your Quilt Art?
Research by the Canadian Conservation Institute and U. Nebraska- Lincoln has been published about the long term effects adhesive containing products may have on paper and fabric art work.
To assist artists in making informed choices when purchasing fusible products, Janet Evenson and Patricia Cox-Crews, U Nebraska - Lincoln, have published findings about fusible sprays, webs and battings. They wanted to know how these products discolor and degrade over time since apparently there are no published results concerning the long-term performance of adhesive-containing products available to quilt makers and home sewers..
Infrared spectroscopy was employed to determine the chemical classification of the adhesive sprays. Fusible batting adhesives were identified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance.
The goal was to identify discoloration, yellowing, strength loss, bleed through, stiffening and color changes other than yellow. Various methods to accelerate aging were used.
Major brands of fusible products were studied.
Since there are many variables involved in research of this nature, control samples were prepared for comparison. As different products have differing chemical properties, and product formulae do change over time, comparing different brands of fusible sprays for example, can only be stated as "this product developed more stiffening than that". In other words, there can be no exact comparisons between 2 brands performing the same function, merely in relation to each other. One brand may become stiffer, or cause more yellowing, or lose strength sooner. In several cases, percentages of degradation are given for these comparisons, making the information more relevant.
It is reassuring to read in the report that fusible batting products do not appear to deteriorate or cause deterioration in quilts. "The fusible batting adhesive formulations may contain cellulose ethers. Cellulose ether-based adhesives are quite stable to light and have been used for long-term conservation treatments." The results for fusible sprays and webs are more disturbing.
Read the complete article, its methodology, findings and conclusions. (A PDF document)
"The fusible webs evaluated, while acceptable for quilts intended to last for 10 to 20 years, could not be recommended for quilts intended to be handed down from generation to generation or for studio art quilts intended for sale to serious collectors or museums. A museum curator or knowledgeable collector will not want to pay thousands of dollars for a quilt that only has a lifespan of 20 years.
Quiltmakers should carefully consider their long term expectations for each quilt they make and select adhesive- containing products accordingly.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided for this research by the International Quilt Association and Quilter's Newsletter Magazine." (quoted excerpts from the published study)
*Research continues on discoloring and degradation of fusible sprays, webs and batting.
Removing Stains on Quilts and Textiles
Life leaves its marks - maybe you don't want the "patina"
Bubble gum, wine, ink, bleeding colors, mildew - what do you do when your art quilts, cherished family heirloom quilts, your childrens' quilts and flea market finds come into contact with real life and all its staining possibilities.
This Stain Removal Guidelines for Textiles is generously shared by Quilt History.
Wise advice from Quilt History to consider: -Some stains are better off left alone. Keep in mind you may damage your item irrevocably. -If it is an important piece, seek the advice of a professional first.
Quilt History's Stain Removal Guidelines:
- Soot and Smoke
- Perspiration and Deodorant stains
- Protein stains,
- Coffee,
- Juice,
- Vomit,
- Tobacco,
- Ink
- Grease and oil
- Rust
- Shoe polish
- Tar
- Wax
- Wine
The Quilt History List is open to anyone with an interest in the documentation and study of quilts, quilters and quilting history.
You have made an important investment in an art quilt, or perhaps a quilt for a child you love.
It is essential that your quilt art be hung out of direct sunlight. Even moderate reflected light causes all fabrics to fade over time, because light rays slowly destroy color molecules. If you are going to be away for a period of time, you could take down the hanging, or pin the bottom edge to the top edge, enclosing the quilt.
Avoid touching and thereby soiling your art. Occasional vacuuming or shaking out will not harm it. Find a piece of plastic window screen and cut it into a piece about 20 inches by 20 inches. Vacuum the quilt art through the screen. If you must clean your quilt art, do NOT have it dry cleaned. Instead, use SYNTHRAPOL, 2-4 caps per wash load. Using hot water, wash in the gentle cycle with a very short spin. Or, you could soak the quilt art in the bathtub using the same amount of soap and hot water. Gently squeeze out excess water, and pat with clean towels. With either method, gently spread the quilt art over a clean bed sheet on top of a carpet or bed, shaping it gently. Synthrapol traps any color bleeding into the wash water. It surrounds the color molecules, thereby preventing back staining. Synthrapol is readily available in quilt shops and via the Internet.
Occasional washing of a kid's quilt is obviously necessary. Although the fabrics have all be prewashed, unexpected events my happen to a quilt. Again, use Synthrapol in the wash load.
The artist selected synthetic Procion™ dyes to personally hand dye most or all of the fabrics in the art quilts. These high quality dyes, called fiber re-active dyes, permanently bond with the fiber molecules by the strongest chemical process called covalent bonding. The dye actually becomes part of the fabric. All fabrics are 100% best quality cotton or silk. The batting is typically 80/20 cotton/synthetic blend. Sewing threads are 100% cotton. Quilting thread is cotton, silk, monofilament or Isacord polyester.
With proper care your quilt art will last for generations. Your kid's quilt will be loved a lot and through multiple washings, the fabric will get softer.
Light Damages Fabric, but How?
Light, especially ultraviolet light can fade colors, turn whites to yellow, and even weaken the molecular structure of the individual fibers in some delicate fabrics. Over long periods of time, fabric will turn to dust, as I once observed while touring the stately home, Knowles, in England.
Light is countless bullets called photons. This is where we need to take a quick look at quantum physics, tho all we need talk about is a little item called wave-particle duality.
It has been shown that light behaves as both wave AND particle. This is difficult to visualize because nothing in our everyday lives behaves this way. We either experience waves, such as on a surface of water or on a vibrating string, or particles such as dust or salt grains. We never see both properties occurring together.
As a particle, light can be sub-divided down as far as a single "quanta" of light known as a photon.
The best way to visualize this process is to use an analogy. Light can be thought of as countless tiny bullets, smaller than atoms. The amount of light (how bright) is how many bullets; the color of the light is how powerful the bullets are.
The familiar rainbow spectrum of visible light spans from red to violet.
Red light is least powerful - violet light is most powerful. Ultraviolet light has a lot more energy than visible light. (The bullets are magnums!) So for a given amount of light, ultraviolet can do a lot more damage. This is all we need to know for our purposes.
Remember, the photons are the bullets. For a given frequency, a photon has a fixed amount of energy. So for a given color of light, there are a whole bunch of photons with the same energy.
And the bullets upset the molecular "glue"
The molecules that make up different fabrics are held together with different molecular energies. Molecular glue if you like. Delicate fabrics' molecules are held together less strongly than those of tougher fabrics. If a photon with enough energy comes along and collides with such a molecule, it can impart enough energy to disrupt the molecule, creating two separate parts that are no longer the same material. This is the process that, if repeated often enough, will cause discoloration and possibly even destruction of a delicate fabric.
(It is also why ultraviolet light damages our skin while visible light has no effect. The energy in visible light is not sufficient to cause molecular disruption in our skin.)
It's all a matter of scale.
There is no magic level at which fabric is either safe or unsafe. Damage is directly proportional to how much exposure to light the fabric receives and the energy level (color) of the light involved. Keep down the proportion of time the garment spends in the light, especially high energy light such as ultraviolet, and damage will be minimal.
This information printed with permission from Sentinel Archiving.