I found my missing bottle of Best Press. It's been missing for a long, long time.
I was going to work on my Rosebud quilt, a very old UFO. The box of rose themed fabrics resides under my ironing board. It never did get closed up but I have instead piled things on top of the open box. And then I piled more things on top of those things until the pile got as high as the ironing board and I could pile no more. (Did I mention I have a small sewing space? I must insert that here now lest you think I'm a slob). Yesterday I unpiled stuff to get into my rose themed fabrics and to my dismay there was the missing bottle of Best Press and it was empty. It has been slowly leaking for a long, long time on to my rose themed fabrics and where it has been slowly leaking there was mold or maybe it is mildew...whatever, it was gross and kind of growing on top of bunches of rose themed fabrics. Yuck. So, I found a new box to pack up the undamaged fabrics and went about trying to salvage the rest. There weren't lots of big spots on anything except the top piece of fabric - just little furry spots here and there on lots of fabrics. I gave the mildewy fabrics a good soaking for several hours in Oxyclean. Then I rubbed laundry detergent into the spots if I could still see them and scrubbed the backside of the spots with a toothbrush. Then I washed the fabrics adding 1 cup of vinegar to the wash water. Then I hung them out to dry in the sun where they still hang today. I haven't closely inspected the fabrics yet. I think the longer they hang in the sun the better.
In the meantime...
A long time ago I thought maybe I'd experiment with a different layout for the 12 inch Rosebud blocks than the usual "just-sew-lots-of-blocks- together" layout.
So this morning I made some HSTs out of a green rose fabric and another limey green tone on tone fabric I now think I don't really like. Let's call those HSTs "thorns" for now. One of the layouts I thought of was off setting the blocks in columns with some thorns in between columns. No design wall here but I kind of propped some up on my old cutting mat covered with batting. See above.
Nope...does nothing for me.
Let's try again without columns of roses offset.
Nope...does nothing for me. And I'm kind of hating looking at that lime green too.
Ok. How about set on point and surrounded by thorns?
I really really hate that lime green now but so far like this setting best.
Maybe if I turn the thorns around? That lime green is really distracting.
Maybe I should just use the usual "just-sew-lots-of-blocks- together" layout and forget about thorns...at least for now.
I'll think on it for awhile out in the garden.
Gone gardening...
I agree--we have enough "thorns" in life--pack them away--lol hugs, Julierose
ReplyDeleteROTFLMAO about hating that lime green with all the rosebuds fabrics. Nice save on the mildew, too. It must be usable now I should think.
ReplyDeleteYes, no thorns this time round! Interesting though comparing the differtent settings! Love all your rose-y fabrics!
ReplyDeleteI'd be crying if that happened to all my rose fabrics from years gone by! I hope you got the problem remedied okay. What would just a plain soft green sashing look like? Just wondering. ---"Love"
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about the mildew damage. You were certainly thorough in your determination to get the fabric back in shape for sewing. I can identify with your stacks. My sewing room/space is quite small too. I recently cleaned out the lower portion of my shelves and ended up sorting fabric in colors, putting the scraps in new containers, and stacking the containers up on a stack of drawers. It's still cluttered looking but it's sorted and it's up off the floor. I like the thorn idea - maybe it's just the combination of lime green and gold.
ReplyDeleteThings happen!
ReplyDeleteProblem solving is a good skill to have, A sense of humor is also good to have.
Thanks for sharing.
Yuck, mildew! I'm sorry that happened to your rose fabrics. I buy Best Press because it's suppose to not attract bugs, but I guess anything wet like that will mildew...
ReplyDeleteYou and your reaction to that lime green and the thorns just cracked me up. Too too funny.
ReplyDeleteHope all your rosebud fabrics come out sweet and clean without furry spots or stains. What a pretty sight your clothesline must have been.
do hope the fabric is okay after all that washing and no signs of milldew etc remain, not heard of using vinegar before wonder what it does.
ReplyDeleteI agree the lime green does nothing for the blocks though I rather like some thorn sashing and the last version looks best maybe make some more in a different colour? Garden is looking lovely my lilac is out but but not much else
I hope your fabric rescue was successful - all those roses look so pretty out on the line. I agree about the lime green, but like the thorn sashing in principle. As for your garden, it's very lovely, but I would think that since I have all these things growing in mine too (except hostas - no point, too many slugs).
ReplyDeleteHope all your rescue remedies worked with the Rose fabrics. What a marvellous collection of prints! They certainly made a beautiful line of washing. Like many of the folks who commented before, I like the idea of Thorn sashing but the lime shade is perhaps too insipid. How about Thorn sashing made from the deeper green that rose leaves have? Happy sewing - and gardening.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a single line of thorns, rather than a double one?
ReplyDeleteI hope your fabrics all recover. Though you should definitely win an award for Best-Dressed Clothesline.
I like the thorn sashing although perhaps not in lime. Or maybe only small bits of lime, not the entire sash.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I would have tossed the mildewed fabric. Thanks for sharing the rescue.
I like the thorns in the fabrics you used. I really like that last layout with the lime triangles sewn together into diamonds. When it's all sewn together, I think that will be awesome! Really, really awesome. Don't give up on it!
ReplyDeleteI "lose" things to mostly in the sewing room
ReplyDeleteEventually your blocks will tell you what they want, don't they always? lol Good thing you found your rose fabric before they were completely ruined forever. Your sewing room sounds like my moms old one! Every space available is used and then some.:)
ReplyDelete