Originally Posted by DeniseP
I went to a quilt show last Friday and someone told me about the "retayne" (I'm not sure of spelling either!) that got out the red from a red and white quilt she had made. The red had been washed and dried prior to making the quilt and it still ran into the white. I will look for this stuff at our local quilt shop.
Retayne does not work that way. It is a chemical solution that SETS dye. If an area that was red came out after being washed with Retayne, that means that it was just stained rather than the dye molecularly bonded with the fibres. And in that case, any good detergent, such as Synthrapol, would have done the job. In fact, any ordinary detergent like Tide or Era or whatever, would have done the job.
I am not out to tell anyone what they should or should not do but I am trying to provide accurate information.
One concern I have about Retayne is that it contains formaldehyde, which stays in any fabric it is applied to.
Strictly for myself, I would never use Retayne on anything intended for infant use. Babies put things in their mouths and have much lower bodyweight than adults, so they tend to get a heavier exposure to anything in their environment than an adult would.
However, someone else's risk/benefit analysis may well end up with a different outcome than mine. It isn't for me to say what other people should or should not do.