Carpets Bleeding Dye

Carpets infused with colour and radiant with detail will complement nearly every room. But a carpet with too much dye is overkill. Dyes can bleed and ruin soft furnishings.

As a result of overloading carpet with dye, the fibres aren’t able to absorb all the dye, which is what causes bleeding. ‘Bleeding’ is most often seen in deeply-c0loured carpets and in hand-dyed carpets. The process to prevent bleeding is a simple, but worthwhile, one.

A newly-bought carpet would benefit from a fixative treatment early on, especially if it’s handmade or deep-coloured.

Before you launch into treating your carpet, vacuum from wall to wall to get rid of any dirt and grit that could get in the way of the treatment. After reading the guidelines on your dye fixative – and keeping an eye on the temperature your fixative needs – spray the carpet evenly with dye fixative and water then use a clean, dry broom to work the fixative in before you allow the solution to do its thing.

When the fixative has sat for a while, encouraging the fibres to hold onto the optimum amount of dye, go over the entire carpet with a carpet shampooer, being careful, again, to use the correct amount of shampoo, which will lift away the excess dye, freeing the fibres to be as luxurious as they should be. Too much dye trying to get into the carpet fibres is the reason for bleeding. If you find a lot of dye coming out, don’t worry! The fibres will have already taken the dye they need way before shampooing starts – your colourful carpet will look so much better for not having too much dye in.

After giving the carpet a deep shampoo, spritz it with the fixative and water spray once more. Again, leave it to do its thing for the correct amount of time. When its time is up, pass the carpet cleaner across the carpet again, only this time don’t use any shampoo – just use plain water to rinse the spray, the shampoo and any remaining excess dye out of the carpet.

Throw open the windows (if it’s a nice day!) so the carpet can dry naturally for a while. Rub the carpet with a clean, white cloth to check that there is no more dye trying to get out; when it’s clean, then you’re done, if there is still colour on the cloth, then you need to go back to the beginning and repeat everything until the cloth stays white.