Dye Marks

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 382, 18 October 1946, Page 27

Dye Marks

Dear Aunt Daisy, I am writing to see if you can help me with my problem./I have a waggon set I had in my box, and was awfully proud of it, as I had worked it in ore strand of cotton throughout. Well, I only took it out and used it quite recently, and then washed it, and lo and behold, what a mess! I didn’t boil it, but the colours ran everywhere. So please could you help me-the material is the usual washable linen. Mrs. Mac, Oamaru. Well, Mrs. Mac-you wouldn't expect those ordinary embroidery cottons to run. Perhaps it was the war-time dyes. First of all try soaking it in equal parts of methylated spirits and benzine. That is often very good for dye marks. Then another good way is to soak it in water with the stains on top, sticking out

of the water. Put baking soda on them, end as it dissolves and disappears, put more. Keep on with that-it may take a week or more. If the worst came to: the worst, you could use a dye remover, which would probably remove .only the marks where the dye had run-especially if you watched it and took it out when those had gone, It may lighten the rest of the embroidery, but at least the cloth would be usable. Try setting the colours then, by soaking for an hour or two in one quart of water containing 1 tablespoon of sugar of lead. It could then be washed in the usual way-but don’t try this till the dye marks ate completely out of the cloth. ‘