100 Details in 100 Days: Day 14

Red six-stranded embroidery floss...a cautionary tale.

I hear the debate often, Anchor is better than DMC, less likely to bleed. Horse hockey. Despite what the labels say, the red colors are just NOT colorfast, in either brand. I hate to be reactionary, but it really is annoying to put a lot of work into a project where the deep red thread bleeds onto the bright white fabric. It does not always happen, but when it does, it is always after laundering a finished item. There is little worse than that.

The solution? Well, you can try soaking your floss in a weak acidic solution. Personally, I prefer citric acid to vinegar...it is a smell thing...but either one should work. After the soak, wash it with a pH neutral soap...I like olive oil based soaps...to prevent any damage to the floss.

My big complaint is that there is little consistency. Sometimes a color will bleed and sometimes it won't. It is more likely to bleed on linen, because linen is ironed damp and the extra dampness gives the dye a better opportunity to migrate. It would be okay, if the dye would then just wash out of the linen, but of course, some of it manages to set. I think of it like the tomato sauce principle. if you eat spaghetti, you are bound to splash tomato sauce somewhere where. Just substitute red floss for red sauce and you run the same risks!