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Help... wool questions!

543 Views 8 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Boobiemama
I have 2 wool covers that I just started using. One of them is dyed, and the dye bled onto one of DD's diapers. Do I need to do anything special to get the dye out of the diaper, or will it just wash out? Also, is there anything I can do to set the dye better so that this doesn't happen again? Also, the other wool cover is natural colored, and it got a little dirt on it when she was playing outside. Will the dirt just come out when I wash the cover, or should I try to scrub it out? Would I use a toothbrush, or something else? TIA!
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Oh gosh. Well, I had a pair of longies that bled a little bit onto a diaper, and the stain never did come out. That said, I didn't really make much of an effort to get it out beyond washing it as part of my normal routine. Maybe use oxiclean? I know some mamas here swear by it for seemingly impossible-to-remove stains. As for the natural cover, I imagine that washing it (maybe with a bar instead of liquid wool soap?) would get the stain out.

For removing the excess dye from the cover, soak it in warm water, then rinse it in cold, soak it again, rinse it again, etc. etc. until the rinse water runs clear. Then it *should* have all the excess dye removed. You could also wash it with a bit of synthrapol, that's supposed to help dye set to fabric - you can get it at http://www.dharmatrading.com and probably lots of other places too, but if you don't do a lot of fabric dyeing, it might not be worth buying an entire bottle.

HTH!
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you can also soak it in some water with vinegar to help reset the dye
All of my dye has always come out of my fitteds. Ditto to a vinegar/water soak for the wool. . .although some colors are very difficult to set.
I had one wool cover that bled and bled terrible no matter how many times I soaked and rinsed until I tried the vinger soak now if I have a dyed wool and I notice it bleed when I wash it, right into a bowl with vinger it goes
Another vote for the vinegar soak. I do have a few soakers that bleed every time I wash them, but the vinegar stopped the bleeding onto diapers.

I would try the oxyclean to get the stain out. I have found the trick to be mixing the powder with boiling water, and letting it soak over night. HTH!
Thanks for the ideas! I'm going to do the vinegar soak. Will I need to re-lanolize afterwards?
Wash the cover with soap to remove dye that is not bonded to the fiber.
Then you can heat it in the microwave in a vinigar and salt mix.
Heat helps with dye take up.
Salt and vinigar are dye fixatives that help the dye bond to the fiber.
As for removing the dye from the diaper,If it is a white diaper you can use hydrogen peroxide.
There are some wool I have that bleeds no matter how many times it was washed.I tried a vinegar soak, didnt work.
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