Originally Posted by
Pollytink
Anyone know how these work? i.e. when you have a color catcher in a load and there are other lighter items along with the one you think might bleed, why does only the color catcher pick up the dye and not the other lighter fabrics? Something to do with the washing soda?
From what I read, the washing soda has soda ash which grabs color when it's been impregnated into cloth. Some sort of chemical reaction I think.
I found more on the web earlier, but of course can't find it now. I did find this though
"
washing soda (also known as soda ash) is used in the tie-dying process to keep the various dyes from bleeding onto one another. It’s well-known among professional textile artists that washing soda and absorbant fabric captures stray dye particles."