It is essential that your quilt art be hung out of direct sunlight.  Even moderate reflected light causes all fabrics to fade over time, because light rays slowly destroy color molecules. If you are going to be away for a period of time, you could take down the hanging, or pin the bottom edge to the top edge, enclosing the quilt.

Avoid touching and thereby soiling your art.  Occasional vacuuming or shaking out will not harm it.  If you must clean your quilt art, do not have it dry cleaned. Instead,  use SYNTHRAPOL, 2-4 caps per wash load. Using hot water, wash in the gentle cycle with a very short spin. Or, you could soak the quilt art in the bathtub using the same amount of soap and hot water. Gently squeeze out excess water, and pat with clean towels.  With either method, gently spread the quilt art over a clean bed sheet on top of a carpet or bed, shaping it gently.  Synthrapol traps any color bleeding into the wash water.  It surrounds the color molecules, thereby preventing back staining.  Synthrapol is readily available in quilt shops and via the Internet.

The artist selected synthetic Procion™ dyes to personally hand dye most or all of the fabrics in the quilt art. These high quality dyes, called fiber re-active dyes, permanently bond with the fiber molecules by the strongest chemical process called covalent bonding. The dye actually becomes part of the fabric. All fabrics are 100% best quality cotton or silk. The batting is typically 80/20 cotton/synthetic blend.  Sewing threads are 100% cotton. Quilting thread is cotton, silk, monofilament or Isacord polyester.

With proper care this quilt art will last for generations.

Gina - Artist
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