Sewdreamy wrote:
Thanks a great idea Betty Jo! I may end up doing just that when it gets to those long borders on the BOM.

I like planned pieced borders even when in the same color, even solids. If you piece it in blocks sized to end up in corresponding places to the rest of the top, it looks quite intentional and gives you demarcations for quilting patterns too. Just an idea. Cheers.

And, Easter is coming! I just bought a gallon of vinegar. But, alas, not for dying eggs. What I am using it for is scaling my humidifier every few days.

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

makesgeese wrote: LOL!

...vinegar is pretty good in potato salad too

Also, mix some vinegar with water and mist on a sunburn to relieve the pain.

This has been interesting about the vinegar uses. Growing up, we used to put vinegar as a rinse on our hair. It makes your hair really soft and acts as a pretty inexpensive lightener. All of the girls in my school thought we were pretty cool cause we would get these light streaks down our hair. Nowadays, you have to pay big dollars at a hair salon for highlights.

ritzy wrote:
Thanks for pointing this out. I thought of this use this morning as well.

Many times vinegar is used to set the color in fabric also. I know we use to do it with new swim suits that you didn't want to fade in the chlorine in the swimming pool.

How interesting! I've never heard of using vinegar on fabri,cs only about using it for removing limescale, which I do. Thanks Agnes, you teach me something new most days Long may you continue to do so.

I believe it is not strong enough to have any effect. I have never seen any adverse effects in my quilts. I personally haven't done a study. All I know is that it was quite regularly used to press the crease. If it was harmful I am sure an alternate would have been found. Have you ever heard of using vinegar as a fabric softener? It would be more diluted but that is another trick from by-gone years. That is definitely meant to stay in the fabric till the next laundering.

What does the vinegar do to the fabric seeing that it's an acid?? I presume if you use it then you should wash your quilts as soon as possible. I'm the world's slowest piecer and some projects have been hanging around semi-finished for years. If I would use that vinegar/water mix could the fabric start to deteriorate?

On a cheeky note: I love pickled cucumber. So, if I press green fabrics, I could use the liquid from the jar and then sniff the lovely scent for weeks?

Generations past, like my mom and grandmother. used a cloth dampened with undiluted vinegar to set creases in men's pants. Going from there I experimented and found that a 50% vinegar, 50% water works fine and doesn't smell quite as strongly as a pickle factory when I are pressing. I keep a spray bottle of the solution at my ironing table to spray as needed. Give the fabric a minute or two to absorb the liquid and better removal of the crease. The smell disappears.

I don't know the vinegar/water receipe, but another trick if you have a crease that won't budge, is to get a piece of natural sisel string, soak it in water, lay it down in a straight line on you pressing mat, place the fabric on top with the crease exactly over the string, then press with your iron. A pressing cloth is optional. This has worked well for me in the past.

Rosemary