Originally Posted by pjinflorida
Hi Everyone,
I have never heard of this product until now and was just reading about it says for solid colored fabric, and in hot water.
Would it work in cold water for multi colored fabric???
Retayne sets dye that is bleeding because it wasn't set into the fabric properly. If you have a multi-color fabric that bleeds, Retayne may set the bleed into areas of the fabric that do not have that color. If the fabric is a multi-colored splashy-type batik, it probably wouldn't matter. If the fabric is a multi-colored print, it could matter a lot.
I have used Synthrapol in both cold water and hot. It works better in hot, but also works some in cold. I would think Retayne is similar. However, if the aim is to set unset dyes, you really want it to work completely the first time. The only reason I can think of to use cold water is if the fabric would shrink and permanently distort in hot water.
Aside from unset dyes, there are other reasons why a fabric could be bleeding. Excess dye is one. The fibers may have already absorbed as much dye as they can take, but the fabric may still be super-saturated with dye because the manufacturer did not rinse it well. In that case Retayne won't do any harm, but it also won't do any good. Rinsing will get rid of the excess dye (Synthrapol would help) that cannot be set.