Originally Posted by Kwiltr

Hi. There is a HQ Webinar on Tension Tug of War on the Handi Quilter website under the Education link. Vicki Hoth discusses this but I'm not sure she demonstrates it, but have a look at that. Essentially instead of only flossing your thread through and up from the bottom of the tension discs, you continue to have your thread travel completely around them before continuing threading the machine. I pretty much always prewash all of my fabric, batiks included. I throw a colour catcher in to see if anything gives off dye enough to wash it again. Someone suggested I wash the backing a few times, but I found the backing was flimsier than the regular batik I used on the top anyway, so didn't think it would be an issue after one wash. I tried Retayne once and didn't find it worked that well for setting the dye and after discovering it is not a permanent fix as you mentioned, don't plan on using it again. I think you're probably better off using synthrapol or colour catchers in the subsequent washings to deal with any further bleeding issues that could happen, but that's just my opinion.