This week’s stitchqueries comes from Jolande about washing a finished piece of cross stitch…
I have stitched Girl With A Pearl Earring on Black Aïda. I would like to know if it is safe to wash my ‘masterpiece’ with detergent, before it will be framed.
Washing or not before you frame is up to you, some people always wash their finishes and some people never wash them.
There’s an article about what type of soaps and detergents to use here: Washing Your Finished Cross Stitch Piece. That might help a bit. I will mention again here that even with a small jar of Orvus hanging around in my stash cabinet, I still find myself going back to All Free & Clear and I’ve never had a problem using that to wash my finished stitching.
If you’re worried about the black fabric “bleeding” onto your stitching, I believe that most brands of aida fabric are labeled as being colorfast and shouldn’t bleed upon washing. You might want to test a small corner of the fabric out with a bit of soapy water first to see if anything happens before you wash the entire piece.
If anyone out there has any tips about washing black fabrics in particular, please share those with us in the comment section below.
Happy Stitching! 
We look forward to seeing your completion – washed or not.
I wash my pieces with Dawn dishwashing liquid, and have never had any issues. For stained pieces, I’ve soaked them in water with denture tablets. Works wonders. Tide sticks (on light fabrics) work great, too.
The cross stitch sampler
The sampler I inherited from my mother has mold on the fabric from being stored ( it was framed) in a damp basement. The stitching is solid black on material specifically use for cross stitch . Since my mother is no longer alive, I’m desperate to restore it to it’s former glory. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Quilt soap like Orvus is great for restoration.
It has been many years since I’ve needed to wash a cross-stitched project and I’ve always used Woolite. Is that now a thing of the past with Dawn the new “go to”?
I remember hearing that Woolite changed the formula ingredients and some folks reported having trouble with the chemicals used in the new version, the consensus seems to be it’s not as gentle as the original formula was. I think Dawn is popular because it’s easy to get without ordering and you can use just a drop or two, and if gets the gunk off animals that got caught up in oil spills, it seems pretty effective 😉 I also still like quilt soap (https://amzn.to/4snhbw9) especially for fragile fabrics or restoring older pieces.