I use batiks a lot and love the look for every pattern, almost. As to bleeding, Shout has a product out that I just used the other day for catching color when you wash quilts. My quilt was red, white and black with the black being batik. I used 3 pieces of color catcher and the quilt did not bleed. Yeah. The color keepers were really black and gray and started out white. Just a thought. I try to buy alot these days, my stash is good but I really have a soft spot for batiks. They are just so beautiful and really make a statement.