Quilt Question:
How do I color test a dirty quilt before washing it?
Quilt Answer:
First of all, YOU REALLY SHOULD NOT BE USING WATER TO CLEAN A VINTAGE QUILT. But I know that sometimes there is no other way to get a quilt to a place where you can allow it in your house. If it has mold or mildew, or is just really awful, you may not be able to save it anyway, so you may as well try to gently clean it.
NEVER put a quilt in the washing machine or dryer. NEVER, EVER. PERIOD.
If the quilt has already been washed, then you don’t need to worry about color run.
The testing is for a previously unwashed quilt, and yes, there are plenty of them out there.
To test the fabrics in an unwashed quilt for colorfastness, here is my method. It is time-consuming and back-breaking, and you’ll wonder why you ever started . . .
Wear a filter mask. With a bowl of cool distilled water, moisten a Q-tip and very gently pad it on a fabric in an inconspicuous place. Use the dry end of the Q-tip to pat over the same spot, and see if any dye comes up. You can also use a small piece of white cotton fabric or a white flour sack dish towel to check for color run. I have a reverse-osmosis water filter, and I use that. Do not use regular tap water. It contains chemicals, and the minerals that naturally occur in tap water can cause water spotting and other problems in fabrics.
You will need to test every different fabric in the quilt to be sure no dye will run. Also, test each color in a print, since some colors will run while the color next to it (in the same fabric) will not run.
I know this is a terribly tedious thing to do. It can take hours for one quilt. But ruining an antique quilt in water is irreversible. If you find non-colorfast dyes in your quilt, perhaps you can settle for some gentle spot rinsing (dabbing) or area cleaning rather than soaking the entire quilt.
THIS IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION TO WATER CLEAN A QUILT.
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