Originally Posted by
ctrysass2012
I have recently finished a batik quilt for my SIL. 1 of the fabrics she chose was a deep burgundy that I prewashed 'just to be safe'. It ran a LOT. Used the above recipe then purchased Retayne & washed 2 more times, each time with a couple of color catchers. The last time there was just a faint pink of the color catchers. Should I get her Synthrapol along with color catchers or will it be safe with just color catchers now??? Thanks.
Retayne sets dye, but is not guaranteed to keep working in hot water. Synthrapol requires hot water to be fully functional. In this situation I would give her color catchers and tell her to wash it in cold water in a machine that uses a *lot* of water -- a laundromat front-loader, if necessary. No one can be absolutely sure, but I would think that is safe. Keep in mind too that not all fabrics pick up loose dye particles so, even if a fabric does bleed a little, that doesn't necessarily mean that other fabrics will be discolored. Plus, with batiks, as someone else mentioned, a few mild bleeds do not stand out anyway.