If you can't find Synthrapol at the LQS, you can order it online. Amazon carries it. And yes, it helps if the quilt has not been through the dryer as heat can set some dyes.
Someone else on the QB had this problem and posted before photos. She was able to get out all the bleeds by using Synthrapol in hot water in a very large Jacuzzi tub. She did say she was frightened by how much additional red bled at first, but she kept changing the water and adding Synthrapol and it finally all came out.
As others have mentioned, Retayne is to be used on individual fabrics before they are ever used in a quilt. If you have a bleeder red fabric, for example, one or (at most) two washes in Retayne should permanently set the dyes. If a fabric still bleeds after two washes in Retayne, it should not be used in a quilt.
Once fabrics are in a quilt, Synthrapol suspends unset dye particles in water so they can be washed away instead of settling into other fabrics. A lot of water is needed so that, if there are a lot of dye particles, they can be adequately dispersed throughout the water. Synthrapol does not set dye particles. It has detergent qualities so, to some extent, will lift unset dye particles from fabric. It can take several washings for Synthrapol to lift out all unset dye particles from a bleed.
Last edited by Prism99; 02-19-2012 at 09:32 AM.