Originally Posted by Prism99

For the already stained fabric, use Synthrapol. It may take several washings with Synthrapol in hot water to get out all of the displaced dye.

Retayne permanently sets dye in fabric, so that is why you use it on the fabric that is doing the bleeding. It usually works the first time around, but you still have to test the fabric. Some fabrics will need the Retayne treatment twice to become colorfast.

Once you have an unwanted bleed in the fabric, it's Synthrapol you want to use. Synthrapol is also what I use when washing a quilt for the first time, as it will suspend any unset dye particles in the water to be rinsed away instead of settling into other fabric.

There are two different reasons why a fabric can bleed. One is simply excess dye in the fabric. Fibers can absorb only so much dye; if the factory has not rinsed the fabric sufficiently, the extra dye will come out in the wash water. The more serious reason for fabric bleeding is when the factory has not properly set the dye with chemicals. When the bleeding continues past the first washing, it is because the dyes were not set properly; that's why you need to use Retayne.

You *never* want to use Retayne on a finished quilt; if you happen to have a bleeder in the quilt, Retayne will permanently set bleeds into the other fabrics.

If you have a bleeding fabric in which the dye was never set properly, then merely washing several times with color catchers probably won't stop the bleeding. The fabric will simply continue to bleed and fade in color with each wash.

Color catchers attract dye particles that are loose in the water so the dye particles don't have a chance to settle in fabric. They are fine as extra insurance when I wash a quilt for the first time in Synthrapol, but I don't rely on them exclusively.