I am always wary of red fabrics, and with good reason: they have run on me more than once and nearly ruined a quilt. Yet I do not learn, and rarely think to prewash them. This latest near disaster has taught me to prewash them without fail, and so to that end, I have pulled the yardage off my shelf and done just that. Prior to this incident, I had washed all my red scraps when two quilts I'd made with scraps had run so I figured I was okay for this SAHRR quilt. I must say it is intriguing how certain light-coloured fabrics pick up the dye, while others do not. Here is what happened with Arabesque.
This was before the quilt had been washed. I admit I was a little concerned by the deep burgundy used in the on-point frame, some of the star points and the maple leaves in the four corners. It was yardage, an older fabric I'd had for some time, called Nana's by The Balson Hercules Group. I was fairly confident of the other burgundies because I was relatively sure I had pre-washed them all after seeing them run in the 94 Quilt and one or two of my scrap quilts.
