katesnanna

Try drying and ironing it, then wash again. I've found this works.

jitkaau

I'm quite cut and dried about this sort of thing and would just use material that doesn't bleed.

Battle Axe

When I had the rug business I would dye a lot of fabric. This sounds like they used the dye "turquoise" as it is one of the worst ones to get to quit bleeding. Actually sew a small ( 2 x 3 ) triangle of unbleached muslin in the corner and wash it again, with a handful of color catchers. Dry it in the hottest dryer you have. Then take the stitches out and see if the dye actually transferred. If it has, then the fabric needs to be returned to the store. You've done all you can. I just didn't want you to throw it out if the color catcher turned a color. Even if you wash a color catcher with no fabric, sometimes they turn shades just be being washed.

89a677

Have you tried Retayne?

Gerbie

I definitely understand your frustation. I prewashed all the fabrics, greens with the center set for the joing rings in mauve with a very expensive ($12.00 a yard- for me at least)beautiful cream with specks of green in the backing and background in a wedding ring quilt I made for my DD several years ago. I did not find any color transfer on anything including the color catcher sheets I used. However later when I planned to enter this queen sized quilt in our annual quilt show at the fall fair, just to show, not as a ribbon contender, I washed it in a large capacity washer at the local local laundry mat, because of the size of the quilt. It was washed in cold water, and not dried in a dryer, but much to my dismay one of the greens bled on various spots of the quilt, I have yet to be able to get the dye out of the cream on this quilt. The only reason it was washed prior to the event, was because she has cats and I did not want the cat hair or smell of the animals on the quilt that I wanted to display. I have tried everything since then to get the color runs out, but to no avail. This quilt has only been washed in cold water and never put in dryer. I was horrified, as I had spent over a year ( I was working full time then and only had some evenings and weekends to work on this quilt) on this as a surprise Christmas gift, and then this happened. The dye transfer from the greens are still there I never did find out for sure which green or greens bled. I tried every suggestion I could find, but nothing has taken that green out, and it is scattered throughout the quilt in various spots. Now I still prewash all of my fabrics, but add Retayne and use color catchers to check my fabrics before I put them into a quilt of any size. Now I will not use any fabric that has a tendancy to bleed. I always prewash. Too much time is spent on our quilts to have this problem occur.

WTxRed

had some red batiks that bled every time - finally threw in some scraps of the white that would be in the quilt top - they didn't pick up any of it so I moved forward. I sure did fret about it tho until I did that!

tessagin

I would send it back to the manufacturer. I wash all my purchased material in hot water and use the thread catchers. Not a good idea if the dye comes off in your hands. After washing, throw the material (by itself) into a hot dryer. Then throw it back into the washer and see if the color bleeds again. If it does, I would send it back to the manufacturer.

bearisgray

Now I soak any unwashed fabric that I might use in HOT water for at least 30 minutes - like colors together - in case one has bad manners it won't hurt the other pieces of fabric. I smush them up and down once in a while just to move the water through the fibers.

I use sinks, kettles, large bowls, buckets, plastic wastebaskets to soak my fabrics. No point in using a whole washer of water when only a small amount of water will do the job.

If the water turns color, I isolate which fabric is donating dye to it - and give special attention to that piece.

Special attention - several more rinses until it stops bleeding color. If it continues to bleed, I dry it and return it to thestore (if possible) or discard it. No point in further aggravation. (There is a difference between excess dye - which when once removed, is no longer a problem - and unfast dye - which continues to lose color forever)

Then I wash the soaked fabrics in cool water with a very gentle detergent, gentle short cycle - I think it's the agitation that makes new fabrics look 'used' when they are washed -

At this point, I need to feel comfortable throwing all colors in to the washer together - just as they would be in a finished item. So until I am comfortable tossing that wet red fabric, and the wet black fabric, in with the wet white fabric, the red and/or black will need further attention.

and then dry until 'just' dry - I do not overload the dryer. I fold and put away until needed. Usually the fabric dries smoothly enough to not need ironing at that point.

Even with all this attention, occasionally I have had an issue when I sprayed sizing or starch on a dark red and a dark blue that I had previously washed.
(Both were by RJR, by the way - several years ago - Jinny Beyer/RJR fabrics may no longer have the color bleeding issues they once had))

Yes, this is a bit of 'extra' work up front - but I have enough stained fabric caused by migrating dyes to go to great lengths to avoid doing it again. I did not have great success trying to remove the unwanted dyes/stains.

PS: I am very aware that some of you see no point in doing this. This is about what I do.
I see no point in needing to use Synthrapol, Retayne, vinegar, salt, or color catchers with commercially dyed fabrics once the excess dye has been removed by soaking and rinsing and the fabrics washed.

IBQUILTIN

Some batiks are very overdyed simply because of the process. Keep trying until the water runs clear. You might want to put some vinegar and Epsom salt into the wash with it, but don't give up. The color will still be bright and beautiful when you get it right

Prism99

Gerbie, you should be able to get the green bleeds out of that quilt by washing again in ***hot*** water with Synthrapol. (Synthrapol requires hot water to work.) It may take several washes, but it should come out. Use the largest front loading washer in the laundromat for this to ensure that there is enough water in the machine.