How can I keep fabric from staining???

[MaryCarly]

I have a very cute little sofabed that you can see in my siggy pic. What you don't see is that some of the blue on the fabric came off on my Lindsey's legs. Luckily I was able to wash most of it off, but now I am afraid to use the sofa bed. I have heard of other people's dolls that were even stained from AG clothes. Is there something I can do to suspicious fabrics to help set the color better so it won't come off on my dolls?

[angelnise]

Not without them fading. Pre-washing fabrics helps, but grandma always said to soak red shirts in baking soda. I don't know how much or if that is true or not. Interesting to find out what others say on this, though!

[robin0850]

Could you maybe spray the sofa with something like Scotchguard? If that would protect the sofa, maybe it would seal the dye in, and not let it stain other things? [img]graemlins/hmmm.gif[/img]

[AG Seamstress]

If the fabric is washable.....soak in a mixture of water and white vinegar, for several hours.
Then wash in cold water with liquid detergent, until you see that the rinse water is clear.
Depending on the color, you might need to wash more than once.
I had to do this with a red and white uniform my daughter was given for a summer choir she was in at our state fair. They discovered the red dye had not been set. Since they had to wear these outfits, for three weeks, and wash them over and over, we used this process, and it worked. When we first soaked them, the red bled into the white, but after the vinegar soak, and a few washings, the white was perfectly bright again, and they washed without anymore bleeding.

[marymax]

put Lindsey back in the box till you get her fixed...

[Ds9jullian]

pre-wash all fabric. . . . saying that newer fabrics are less likely to loose color than just five years ago. Also overdyed fabrics can take a number of washing before all color stops running.

Ashley