In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Carol Adkinson
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes
>Vivienne sells the glue-stuff - Fray-Check I think -  

>So - does anyone know how long it has been around, and if there are
>any adverse reports so far.   

Quite a long time ago (around the time that Steph Peters started making
lace, if Steph can remember when that was!) those of us on the
uk.rec.crafts newsgroup used to meet up every so often, especially at
shows, and so we made an @ badge to wear so that we could be
distinguished from the crowds. I did a cross stitch one, stranded cotton
on green linen, cut out the shape, coated it in Fraycheck to stiffen it,
and stuck one of the white card badge things (ie a circle of card with a
safety pin attached) on the back. I have it sitting in front of me now -
it definitely isn't brown anywhere, even if the original colours may not
be exactly as they were to start with, they are close enough, including
the very very pale blue in the variegated cotton I used. It is still
stiff enough to hold shape (but possibly not quite so stiff as it was to
start with).

It definitely hasn't turned brown, as items glued with Copydex glue
years ago have, and there are still books around now that tell you to
use Copydex! The only glue I will contemplate near to fabric now is PVA.

Fraycheck always used to remind me of the stuff that you could get in
the 1970s to stop ladders in tights - and I think that had been around
for a while. Of course, in the days before coloured tights, it wouldn't
have mattered if it turned slightly brown.

On the other hand, I think discussion on the list in the past drew us to
the conclusion that there are differing formulas of Fraycheck according
to where you are - though it may be a case of climate, if I remember
correctly the Australian version went brown, the English didn't.

My main use for the Fraycheck was when I was doing a lot of cross
stitch, to seal the edges of the fabric before mounting it in an
embroidery frame (rather than zig-zagging round with the machine, which
with Aida, quite often pulled a set of threads off) to work - this was
then trimmed off before framing.
>> >

and Dora Smith wrote:

>I always wash my samplers in cool water when I'm done, then mild
>detergent (like dish detergent),

Be careful with dish detergent! When my class was working on our group
piece for Myth or Mystery last year, one of the group learnt the hard
way why not to wear hand cream while making lace (unfortunately she
doesn't have much choice in that matter, due to her skin condition, but
has since discovered "Udder Cream" which solved her problem) and ended
up with a dirty mark on the piece she was doing - using ecru DMC Broder
Machine and a Madeira Metallic 40 in gold. So she washed it - gently
letting it soak for a couple of minutes in water with Fairy washing up
liquid. She didn't immediately notice the effect, but when she brought
it into class and compared it with the others, we found that the gold
thread had been stripped back to orange, and the lace which was ecru was
now brilliant snow white! Orvus is really the only safe thing to use.
Fortunately she had time to do a second piece of lace, and it hadn't
taken her years to make.   
-- 
Jane Partridge


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