Looking for Bleachable Thread??

[Laurie]

Hi gang!

I did some chef jackets for a customer awhile back, I saw her over the weekend and she comented that the name has "bled" out and is now Pink instead of Red as her son has to bleach his jackets to keep them clean. Is there a certain type of thread that can be used that won't fade and bleed?? She wants me to re-do them, but I don't want to have to do the same thing in a few months again?? Any suggestions??

Laurie

[Wayne]

There are several out there but I've always used Isacord polyester thread. Never had a problem.
Not sure about bleach.
Wayne

[Barbara Bunker]

Red rayon thread is notorious for bleeding. Is that what you used?? I would try a red poly on something and then bleach it to see what happens.


Barb in Broomfield, CO

BMB Custom Embroidery

[Laurie]

I have Maderia and the ARC which came with my machine. I am using the polyester thread as well... I don't know if it just isn't able to hold up to excessive bleaching, or there really is a difference from the one to the other??

thanks!

[Laurie]

The Maderia I used is the Viscose which I just googled and it is basically Rayon. So, yeah... I will have to see if I have a red poly or I will be ordering one. Hopefully that will be the fix!

Thanks Barb!

[signman]

Please, please don't get conned into 'redoing' the jackets...it is NOT YOUR FAULT that the colors ran-it is the CUSTOMER'S problem because they used bleach! If you didn't 'guarantee' the product against bleeding then YOU are not the one that is responsible!
Get some white material, scraps, whatever of 100% cotton, cotton/poly blend, and 100% poly-run the same lettering or design on two of each material piece in red, and then run one set through the wash the SAME WAY you do your own personal washing. Take the SECOND set of swatches and add bleach...now you have a comparison between 'with' and 'without' bleach to see if the thread bleeds or not. IF your threads don't bleed then you can tell the customers that 'your' testing didn't bleed-if it does on their material then they might not have used bleach-but might have had the product DRYCLEANED...which is a killer on some colors.
Good luck...we have done chef's coats and lab coats with ARC and Madiera in different colors and so far, not one customer has had a single color run.

[Shuffletown Embroidery]

For the record, I use Madeira Polyneon and it does not bleed. My veterinarian's white jackets have to be bleached. We embroidered them with a dark red Madeira Polyneon and the color has never bled or faded.

[Laurie]

Thanks! Let it be known that I will only "re-do" them at the customer's expense. Because I don't feel responsible for bleeding thread. I have done other Chef coats and that customer never said anything. I will try a different thread, and go from there. Great idea with the swatched. I will have to buy some bleach however as I do not personally use it! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

It should also be known that this is a person who is NEVER going to be pleased! She used to be my oldest daughter's girl scout leader and was the reason my daughter quit!! A very disagreeable personality.

I will let you all know the outcome! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks again!
Laurie

[Barbara]

Does anyone have any experience with Maderia Rayon? I use a lot of the Dakota Collectibles stock designs and the colors in their designs use Maderia Rayon. I have been considering investing in all the colors for the Maderia Rayon in order to simplify color selection. Do any of you do anything similar or what have you done in lieu of the Maderia rayon thread? I wish Dakota would change to polyster instead.

Barbara
In San Antonio

[TinaK]

Barbara:

I just switch the Rayon number over to a Poly number or I see what I have close to that color in Poly and go with that.

If you call Madeira they will send you a conversion chart for the Rayon to Poly.

[Barbara]

Tina,

That is basically what I do but I was hoping to find a short cut. The hard part comes matching other brands to the Maderia Rayon. Guess I just felt like belly-aching a little. Thanks for your reply.

Barbara
In San Antonio

[gcannon]

Madeira Polyneon can take it- bleach, that is- just try to use as little as possible to get the garment clean.

[signman]

I recommend against drycleaning because we have seen some horrorific damage done to some fabrics by an overdose of drycleaning fluid-not everyone working for the laundry knows what they are doing. Since I also do more screenprinting than embroidery, we know that drycleaning fluid is a fast way to remove plastisol ink from fabrics! It will dry out the plastisol causing it to crack and flake off-so we tell everyone no matter what we produce to just steer clear of drycleaning. I know it most likely doesn't affect the poly thread but if a customer is used to sending everything to the drycleaners (or 'commercial cleaning service) it could come back with 'hidden damage' aka- ink dry out.
We recommend any household detergent with bleach 'substitute' and that makes them all happy.
As for converting threads, since Madeira took over Melcomart and all that-they supply you with conversion charts (with color thread swatches) for no charge-just give them a call. Works for us!
Happy sewing everyone!

[Laurie]

I will use some of these additional suggestions.
Thanks again!!

Laurie

[gcannon]

Good call Signman- never thought about that; and recommending color safe bleach, or "bleach alternative" just answered a question that I was pondering myself. We are in the process of developing a "care for your new custom embroidred item/ promo offer" tag, and I need all of the data I can get on this subject. And, while I seem to be in chatty mode; the coversion chart for ARC to Madeira is right on- it's almost right every time, but I still compare my old ARC chart with the Madeira before I order.