Originally Posted by MadQuilter
Originally Posted by sawsan
I read that you put vinegar , salt
THose are old remedies that used to work with some of the old-fashioned dies. They tend not to work with the new dies. There is a color-setting liquid available and for the life of me, I can't recall the name. I have used it to prewash some bleeding fabrics.
It's Synthrapol. I use it for the first wash of my quilts. Synthrapol suspends unset dye particles in water so they are rinsed away instead of settling into other fabrics.
For an individual fabric, you can also use Retayne. Retayne sets dye particles in fabric so you *don't* want to use this on an entire quilt. If one fabric bleeds, you could be permanently setting the bleed into the other fabrics.
Many quilt shops carry Synthrapol now, and those shops that cater to dyers also carry Retayne. They can be purchased online too.