Yes, if others like it -- sometimes we just have to give up and decide to like it ourselves.

Thanks Rita, what I haven't confessed is that my DH and a friend both like the bright version so I think after all this good help I had better leave it alone, get on with it and see what happens!

Thanks Ritzy I never would have thought of that either! Good to know for future reference. Juliet, I like the block and the colours as they are. It's lovely and bright and cheerful. Maybe once you have made a few more it won't seem so bright and overpowering. Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide. And as you know we are always happy to see photos of the results.

Oh, I never thought of that for de-brighting something but for de-whiting! Thank you Ritzy, I'll definitely try that on a small piece.

If it is the brightness of the yellow that you do not like you could give it a light tea bath. Make some tea and quickly dip fabric into and take out (the longer it stays in the tea, the darker it will be). I have done this when the fabric wasn't quite right for what I was doing.

Thank you Rita. I know about using the reverse of fabric and completely forget about it when looking at my own fabric. The washing machine thing sounds good and I may try it on a small piece, don't want to run out of fabric experimenting. DeColourant sounds lovely but where I am many basic products are sometimes not available, like bleach, so a new product like that will never get down here but how interesting to know about it. Probably I will go with the reverse if I really can't stand the bright, I suspect that it will quiet down when part of the whole quilt top and not just shouting at me from one block on my design wall. Just decided to show a picture, this is Block A and there are 5 blocks using the same fabric but different positions. It comes from a book called Take 5. Also in the other 4 blocks there is much more white, this is the only one with just a little bit in the centre.The reverse is lovely but not quite right with the daffodils, I must remember to look at the reverse of more of my fabrics!

I'm wondering about lemon juice and sunlight.

There is also a fairly new product available called DeColourant..."a color remover for fabrics and papers".


http://www.Harbor-Sales.com

Some of the kinds replace color. Mine just removes it, but I haven't tried it yet...supposed to be good with stencils.

Juliet I don't know much about bleach - except that it stains my t-shirt and jeans if I am not careful - but I am wondering if you could use the reverse of the fabric? Also, I wonder if you put some bleach in with the washing powder then maybe you would get an even bleaching on the fabric - but I don't know because I never tried that.

I have a fabric, yellow with a meandering caramel trail on it. It is too bright for my project and I wondered if I can make it paler with bleach. A cup of water and 1 tbspn of bleach wiped out the printed design on it but took the yellow down a few shades nicely. Now, I could play around with formulae (made up by me!) all morning but then there would be no lunch and I might get nowhere. So, I wonder if this is possible and if anyone out there knows how to make fabric a little paler? I live in Caracas, I don't want to buy more fabric and this one is usable as is just not right for my taste! My goodness, I just realised I came to the Quilt Show Forum before Googling - how cool does that make the Quilt Show ? Any advice kindly received, thanks.