I've had problems with dyes bleeding -- the dyes are NOT organic -- so they bleed. I had a red border on a while-whole cloth embroidered top. BEFORE I assembled the top with the border, I tested it -- and Oh, YEAH!, it surely bled. A search around town (every store in town, as a matter of fact) revealed NO Retayne, nor any dye fixative of any kind. Uh. oh!
Well, I began an internet search. On the Rit Dye website, I found a product named "Rit Laundry Treatment (Dye Fixative). The directions for stove-top use, read: Add 4 tablespoons of Rit Dye Fixative to 3 gallons of hot water for each 1/2 to 3/4 pound DRY fabric. Add fabric, and stir constantly for 20 minutes. Rinse in cold water (I do this in the washer) and dry. The trick with this is: I begin with the palest shades of fabric in my quilt, adding 1 tablespoon of the Dye Fixative for each load of fabric being treated. This product could also be used as a dye fixative for hand-painted pieces of fabric. I found this product online, and I tested my fabric both before and after treatment. After treatment, the fabric did NOT bleed. However, if it were my quilt, I would still use color catchers in the laundry. I know that's a lot of trouble, but making a quilt is a lot of work, and if I know I have a "bleeder" in fabric, I'm definitely going to treat the fabric BEFORE I use it. The cost of shipping the product is higher than the price of the product, which i think is pretty much normal. I still have almost a full bottle of the dye fixative, and I think I will be ordering some more soon!
Jeanette