Old 06-05-2012, 07:49 PM
  #9  
Prism99
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
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There are a couple of different reasons why batiks (and other fabrics) may bleed.

One reason is that there is excess dye in the fabric, caused by the manufacturer not rinsing thoroughly enough. That is the type of fabric that will stop bleeding after one or two washes. A different reason is that the manufacturer has not properly "set" the dye into the fabric. These fabrics will bleed almost forever, because the dye is still unset.

For the first situation, washing once or twice will solve the problem. For the second problem, which sounds like the one you have, you need to use Retayne. Retayne will permanently set dyes. It is widely available online, even from Amazon. Most fabrics will become dye-stable after one treatment with Retayne (which, incidentally, requires hot water to work). A few fabrics will require 2 treatments with Retayne. Any fabric that still bleeds after that should not be used in a quilt. When using Retayne, you do not want to mix colors; use Retayne with all the reds, all the blues, etc. separately. Otherwise you may get bleeds that become permanently set into the wrong fabrics.

Synthrapol is another handy item to have on hand. Synthrapol does *not* set unset dyes. Instead, it suspends unset dye particles in water so they are rinsed away instead of settling into other fabrics. This is what you want to use on a quilt after it is put together, for its first washing. Synthrapol, like Retayne, requires hot water to work.

Also, as someone else mentioned, different fabrics receive bleeds differently. You can have a bleeding red fabric, and one white fabric may become stained red while the other never accepts the free dye.
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