Donna Hall

I wash my batiks in cold water with the color catcher only one time. I have had no problems after that. I even have put the color catcher in the dryer (not on purpose), but it did not change color even at that. Of course I am using Hoffman, Kaufman, and other name brand batiks.

Gail B

What is a color catcher? Do you have to use it even if you have used Retayne?

ShirlinAZ

Retayne's MSDA is about as bland as any I've read, and I've read A LOT! I worked on a Safety team, and on a Fire Team. Retayne is non-toxic and does not call for any personal protective equipment. Firefighters should wear breathing protection if they respond to a fire where large amounts of retayne are involved, such as the factory or a store where retayne may have mixed with other products. Retayne is non-toxic to the environment (may be run down the drain). Did you know that milk is environmentally toxic?

Prism99

A color catcher traps unset dye particles in the water so they don't have the chance to settle into other fabrics. They are widely available in the laundry section of grocery stores, Walmart, etc. They serve a similar function to Synthrapol.

I toss a color catcher in with regular laundry, as I have found that a lot of my daughter's clothing (especially black clothing) bleeds. I wash blacks alone as much as I can, but still toss a color catcher in the wash to try to prevent black from settling into any white or colored portions of the primarily black clothing.

I give all of my quilts a first wash in Synthrapol, just to ensure that any unset dye particles get rinsed out of the fabrics without settling into other fabrics. I might or might not also toss in a color catcher or two for added insurance. I think for any quilt it is a good idea to use one or both of these with a first wash.

rosalyne

Hi Just for an extra help if a color happens to bleed on your quilt you can wet a shout color catcher and rub it on the area. I did that on bleeding from a black color and it worked. Retayne works really well but i would go for the 2 processes.

roadrunr

Since Batiks are mostly hand dyed, they might not be colorfast, you would need to set the color in the fabric. The old fashioned way is by putting it in vinegar to "set" the color, but you can also use a product to set the color. If you just keep washing the fabric, all the color will eventually come out of the fabric and then you'll be left with a white piece of fabric.

Scissor Queen

The old fashioned way works with old fashion dyes. They don't use organic dyes anymore. They use chemical dyes and vinegar or salt won't set those dyes.

Pat75

I hate to ask this question but where did you buy your batiks? I wash them and have no bleeding I do buy from my local quilt store and mostly on line from hancocks of paducah and have never had this problem and I work with batiks on white a lot because my eyes do not do well with black and bleeding would show. i am so sorry you have this problem because batiks are what I use 99% of the time with zero bleeding.

marymay

When I wash my fabric I never use laundry soap, I only use Baking Soda.I have never had any of my Batiks Fabric bleed.

matraina

Try adding white vinegar to the water. I would start with half a cup.