Colourfastness

Last week I sent an email off to Pam at Cottage Garden Threads to ask if she would be at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair this week. Her reply came back to say that no, she wouldn’t be there, but that Catharina’s Country Crafts would have her stranded threads (not the perles) there for people to see and buy. This is great news, because I’ll be able to explore their colour range in real life, and get some to try out.

Later on, Pam emailed again to say that she had been reading my blog, and included the following response (which she has given me permission to share with you) about the colourfastness of their thread:

I can tell you that my threads have been industry tested to say that they are colourfast. In saying that, you can do bad things to make a thread bleed. Katie, my daughter has just designed and stitched a piece that has used the Waratah, and Cloudy Day.
I washed the finished piece in warm soapy water, rinsed clear and rolled in a dry towel. Hung out to dry. Steam ironed when dry and no colour shadow. Very pleased. Brenda Ryan, from Brenda Ryan Embroidery Designs has been using a large range of my threads, both stranded and perle 12, all have been washed and all terrific. I have several different processes that I put the thread through to ensure good colour quality and fastness.

That sounds very thorough! I’m really looking forward to trying some of these threads out – not just to see about their colourfastness, but also just to try them to explore the quality, the colours, and the variegations.