Protecting quilt fabric

October 16, 2024 4:35 PM

How can I protect white quilting fabric as I sew?

I'm hand sewing a quilt with a lot of white and I'm worried about soiling the white as I work. I can't wear gloves and do the intricate hand work. This is going to take a long while of me working with the fabric and manipulating it. I'm looking for something, maybe scotch guard, that will protect the white fabric from getting soiled as my hands work with it over what could be the next year. I don't need to protect it from water or anything like that and I don't love the idea of spraying my fabric with chemicals, but I don't want the white to get dingy as my hands work with it. I just want to keep the white white until I finish it. Is it just a matter of scotch guarding it?

posted by archimago to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

What about fingerless gloves? Something like these with the fingertips cut off. Wash your hands well before working on your quilt and wear the gloves to cover your hands to prevent contact with the white fabric.
posted by XtineHutch at 5:26 AM on October 17

I think I would plan on washing it after quilting. I wouldn’t want to treat the fabric and am not confident that would work. I poked about online a bit and found this post where the author talks about washing as part of her process - although does mention her quilts are machine, not hand quilted.
I have hand quilted quilts from my great grandmother that have held up well to machine washing over the years.
posted by hilaryjade at 5:30 AM on October 17

Wash your hands before you sit down to sew. Don't use Scotchgard on something you're going to be handling that much -- it can cause skin irritation.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:42 AM on October 17