Thread: bleeding fabric and pecuts?

I made a indigo blue batik and white quilt. I was afraid of the blues running on the whites. I washed the blues in retayne before i sta rted the quilt and their was no bleeding after it wa s finished whe n I washed it. I would use Retayne prior to cutting the fabrics. Hope this helps.





QUOTE=quiltlady1941;5539065]I bought 10 yards of dark turquoise fabric from Jo ann's it was the country classic solids, for the back of a quilt, I washed it and oh my goodness did it bleed so after 5 washes with Shout color catcher in the wash the catchers are still coming out the same color as the fabric a very dark turquoise.. I did go back to Jo ann's and they told me they could not give me a refund as I washed the fabric.. I could not believe that they would say that, how would I know if the fabric would bleed if I didn't wash it.. they also told me to put vinger and salt in the wash and wash the fabric again..so as I speak that is what I am doing..Maybe this will work..

Now the top for this back.... I made a single Irish chain quilt and used a precut jelly roll of different color turquoise some light and some dark for the chain with white for the background, now I am wondering if this fabric will bleed like the backing..I did not wash the jelly roll, do any of you wash your precuts before you put them in a quilt top? I was afriad that the fabric would fray a lot and it would end up not the 2.5 inches that it started out to be.

Wouldn't you know it... this is a quilt someone asked me to make, it's the first quilt that I am making for someone that I am getting paid for. but oh my all the trouble ...if it was for me I wouldn't worry about it.. anyway thanks ladies for all your advice...[/QUOTE]

I was at Jo-ann's this afternoon and tried to buy retayne and/or synthrapol. I talked to four different clerks (one I think was a manager), and no one had heard of it, no one knew what it was for and no one knew if it was in the store.

I've learned to soak each color separately in hot water - then if the water starts to turn color, I try to isolate which piece is releasing the dye - and then that one gets special attention.

I'm starting to sound like a stuck record on this - but I think a commercially dyed fabric should not bleed . I consider a bleeder to be defective. I can deal with excess dye that is 'gone' after one or two washes - but why should I - as the final consumer of this fabric - have to buy anything else to set the dyes?

If I WANTED to deal with the dying process - I would see some point in needing to buy Retayne and Synthropol. Needing to buy it to set dyes on supposedly 'finished goods' really ticks me off!

From my experience - and I have washed hundreds of different fabrics - I can't tell ahead of time which one will be a problem. Brand name and cost don't seem to have much to do with it. I've had inexpensive fabrics ('no-name' fabrics from WalMart) behave well and some not-so-inexpensive fabrics (a red Moda from LQS, for example) release color.

Also - I've had at least one fabric from every color family be a bleeder. Turquoise and purple - are to me - as notorious for bleeding as red.

If JoAnn's won't make this right, dispute the charge with your credit card company. They will support you, period. JoAnn's will just be 'sol'. better them, than you!!

good luck!

I have seen someone on this board say that bleeding is not only caused by the dark fabric, but by the light fabric accepting the bleeding dye. You can put a piece of your bleeding fabric in hot water with light fabrics that you intend to use in the quilt to see if they absorb the turquoise. If they don't, then you shouldn't have the problem.

Originally Posted by carol45

I have seen someone on this board say that bleeding is not only caused by the dark fabric, but by the light fabric accepting the bleeding dye. You can put a piece of your bleeding fabric in hot water with light fabrics that you intend to use in the quilt to see if they absorb the turquoise. If they don't, then you shouldn't have the problem.

To be picky -

If a bleeding fabric is still bleeding - it's still bleeding

It's a problem if the OTHER fabrics pick up the dye/color - some are dye resistant - some aren't
It even seems that with some fabrics, only some AREAS pick up stray colors

Thanks, Scissor Queen,
I looked on the internet and found them both. I think I would not need the retayne. I also found that synthrapol might be found at places like Walmart or grocery store laundry aisles. It's just a soap.

I tried some of the red today in cool water. The water did turn a little pink. This was some red fabric that I bought yesterday, but some of the other reds that I have been using may be many years old. I'll have to test more of them with a wet paper towel to see if they release color.

Sometimes it takes more than a few seconds for the fabric to release color.