patching a carpet

[mary]

I need to do this in an open area that I can't disguise. As the (very small) area is now faded I don't have a spare piece that will blend in perfectly. My question is whether I can artificially fade a piece of virgin carpet (ie. pinched from a part that is under a pece of furniture and so unfaded by the light)? I imagine it would take too long to leave it in the sun so will I get the same effect if rub the pile with a week dilution of bleach and water? Are the two processes of fading (sun or bleaching) similar or identical?

[meow2222]

ISTR Mrs Beeton saying fabrics can be unfaded with ammonia. I've never tried it myself but might be worth a google.

NT

[martin_pentreath]

What about one of those sunbeds that teenage girls keept frying themselves on?

I don't think chemical and UV bleaching are the same at all. If you use chlorine bleach there may well be a tendency for yellowing (I found that some years ago when I decided it would be nice to bleach the pillowcases with a bit of domestos). You could try oxygen bleach (sodium perborate, the main ingredient in many laundry stain-removing products) but that is always sold on the basis that it *won't* fade colours, so I don't know how good that will be. Whatever you do can't you try it on yet another bit of spare carpet under the sideboard first?

Cheers!

Martin

[chrisj.doran]

Not even with a rug?

Thinking laterally, can you replace a much larger area with a totally different, but non-clashing, colour/pattern that looks as if it's deliberate? E.g. if it's a door threshold in brown carpet, a 1m x 1.5m area in gold wouldn't look too silly. If it's further into the room, you may have to cut out four or more squares in a pattern and replace them with carpet tiles.

Chris

[Steve Walker]

It'll have faded due to sunlight, so how about continuous exposure at close range from a UV lamp?

SteveW