vinegar is a mordant(color fixative) for acid base dye's. salt works best for vegetable dye's. sometimes I use both. I put them in the washer and if I don't think the water is hot enough I boil water on the stove and add it to the washer. Your water MUST be hot enough to set the color. It's generally cheaper than color catchers here but it is more work. Good luck!!

If no other fabrics pick the dye up, what's the problem?

My accent for this quilt is white, and white is notorious for picking up dyes. This is a gift for a gd and I know it will be washed frequently. So far, I have set most of the Hoffman Green Tea batik jelly roll strips. Right now I am going through the deep turquoise/blues, heating water now for the last wash with retayne. Lots of prep with this quilt, but it will be worth it when I am finished. I hate to say never again, but right now batiks are not my favorite for quilts. I don't do many wall hangings, so frequent washings with batiks can be an issue.

So have you tested to see if the white picks up the dye? That would be the logical thing to do. If the white doesn't pick up the dye there is no problem.

I have been soaking a piece of fabric off and on all week as I want to use it. I washed it once and the color catcher came out pretty dark (a pretty teal color) and so I just started soaking the fabric in the tub/sink (back and forth) until eventually I'm hoping the water will be clear. Right now I'm down to a very, very light bluish green tinge in the water--so there is hope.

I don't know what else to do to hurry up the process. i don't want to run that many loads of laundry! Glad I didn't. I may wash it once in the washing machine once more with a color catcher but I know that I want to make my daughter's memory quilt with this as the sashing. I'm sure that there will be a few squares with some white fabric in it and we don't want this fabric to ruin the quilt.

I feel your pain. I paid a princely sum for the hoffman bali pop 2.5" set, the manufacturer should take care of the bleed before they sell the fabric.

White picks up everything, or the colors turn the white a grey dingy color. I am doing the orange/yellows, and have added a piece of the white cotton to see if the loose dye is picked up by the white. when I did it with the turquoise, it turned the white a dingy dirty white/grey color.

Oh no!! I am working on a quilt called "Harvest" and am using the "Green Tea" batiks. I never gave a thought to these bleeding! I am almost finished with the blocks, so it's too late to prewash now. They are set with white on white fabric. Would you gals advise washing with Retayne or washing and putting a color catcher in when I've completed the quilt. Sure glad I read this thread, because I have been buying lots of batiks for my stash, and I am not a prewasher of fabric. I sure will be now with batiks!!