So, the Blanketeers inherited 7 "mostly made" (ha!) baby blankets, and I took one through to completion to see how it would go. The quilts came pinned wrong sides together with lots of pins. I serged around the outer edges of the first one (only slicing through one pin - oops) then turned it it inside out. Unfortunately, it had been sitting in the sun so long that the fabric had faded badly in places, though this only affected this first "test" quilt. That's not even the bad part, the bad part is that someone marked pencil lines (PENCIL lines!) to form quilting guides all over the top of the quilt. Ugh! Sadly, everything I've ever heard about the impossibility of removing pencil lines has proved to be all too true. And they weren't even terribly careful with their lines, in places there are multiple parallel lines, and I could only sew over one. The lines are not too apparent unless you look closely (and the fading on this one totally disqualifies it from wearng the Blanketeer label anyway IMHO) but the other 6 quilts have the same pencil marks all over. What to do? Anyone know how to get pencil marks out? I tried a direct application of OxyClean, no change. Sigh. We'll have to decide what to do with the remaining 6 quilts; I do NOT want them to become permanent fixtures in my closet!Here you can see pencil marks in the top center vertical quilting line. There's a dark line along the top of each line on this side of the quilt.
Here you can see the large faded section in the middle of the quilt - for once it's not my poor camera or photography skills that are messing up!
And still more pencil lines. Not too noticeable from a distance, perhaps, but very obvious up close (you know, by where the baby would be!)
5 comments:
sorry, can't help you there????
I can't tell you why or what to do. I wouldn't worry about it.
The baby will find it very comfy indeed.
Micki
first, i can't see what you are talking about in the pencil marks. i know with chaulk its just a matter of washing to get rid of them (if they haven't been exposed to the heat). second, like we have discussed several times, some child is going to pick it up and scream "this is my favorite!"
wash it and do what you can then add it to the collection! Someone will treasure it until it falls apart!
Brandy, you're probably right about the pencil marks. You actually have to look to find those. But this one is waaaay faded, which makes it look used, which I think makes it fit for Goodwill, not the USO. The other six quilts shouldn't be faded, since they were on the bottom of the pile, not the top.
Pencil is essentialy graphite. I have used goop, the garage or shop hand cleaner, to remove pencil lines with good results. You need to rub it in and if fabric will tolerate it use an old toothbrush to work it in. Let sit for a bit, at least 1/2 hour but maybe over night and wash out. Good luck!
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