Backing Fabric bled to front
 

I made a cute baby quilt with lots of white on the front. The back was prewashed flannel with red and purple in it. After I finished the quilt I washed it (with Color Catchers) and found that both the red and purple had bled to the front. Ugh.

I hit the spots with Shout and rewashed, again with Color Catchers. Still had spots.

I've washed it again two more times, still with Color Catchers. IDK if it's a trick of the light but it seems the spots are gone now. I'm going to wash once more though just to be sure. After I run it through the dryer, I'll update this thread.

If the spots are not gone, any suggestions?

What about this flannel backing fabric? I have another 4+ yards of it and it's quite attractive too. I was originally going to throw it out but now I wonder. Maybe if I wash it 3-4 times and/or only use it with a dark colored top? What do you all think?

Thanks.

I would wash it a couple times and use it with a darker quilt. 4 yards is a lot to throw away

I agree with cjsews...wash your remaining yardage and use with dark fabrics on the front.

I also would wash it with either color catchers or white rags that you can later bleach to see if the fabric is continuing to run. If after 3-4 washings it's still running, I'd probably toss it despite it's being that large a piece of fabric. For me, knowing it was still going to be problematic, would make me not want to use it.

Sorry to hear this terrible problem. Most of the time, if a quilt is mostly white I use a mostly white backing. Can you applique over the spots if they don't come out??

What about Rit Color Remover for the remaining backing? I wonder if that will take care of future bleeding. Then it may not look the best but you could use to make pet beds for the local animal shelter without worrying about it bleeding on their laundry.
https://www.ritstudio.com/techniques...color-remover/

My DH has a dark red plaid set of flannel sheets on his bed in the winter and I knew that I had to wash them first. I washed them, he went to bed and the next morning his "tighty whities" were pink. I washed them often during the past couple of winters and they never did stop bleeding - the wash water and the two rinse waters were always pink. They were very thick flannel. I think that using the fabric on a dark colored quilt top would be OK after multiple pre-washes.

The cost of water and power to wash the fabric so many times plus add the frustration level, I wouldn't even think about keeping it.

Using the flannel with a dark quilt top really doesn't solve the problem, since anything that rubs up against the flannel may get some of that excess dye on it. (As demonstrated by Nikki's DH.) I might try setting the dye with Retayne and washing a time or two more, but if that doesn't work I would have to toss the fabric out, or ask at guild if anyone could use it, knowing that it bleeds.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. The quilt is in the dryer, fingers crossed! It looked pretty good but the proof is in the pudding. If there are just a few spots, I may go the applique route.

I think I'll try to wash the flannel once and see exactly what color the rinse water is.

I'll be back later today after the quilt is out of the dryer.

6 wash cycles later and the white borders are all white. yay!!

All the fabrics on the front have stars on them. I also attached a picture of that offending back fabric. Awful nice isn't it?

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