Bleeding Fabric
 

I washed new fabric with white towels. One of the new fabrics bleed badly. The 2 dye catchers picked up a lot of the dye. Only one fabric also picked up dye. The towels in the wash did not pick up any dye and were beautiful and white. Does anyone know why one fabric picked up dye and the other items didn't? ALso does anyone know how to get the dye out of the fabric that did pick up dye. I've already tried soaking it in non-chlorine bleach and rewashing it. It has not been dried in the drier. Thanks.

Different fabrics pick up loose dye particles differently; not sure why, but suspect it has to do with fiber content, surface treatments, and chemical interactions.

I would use Retayne on the one fabric that bled so it stops bleeding. Occasional fabrics require two washings in Retayne. Any fabric that still bleeds after two washings should be used for something other than quilting. Retayne is designed to permanently set dye.

Try Synthrapol for the fabric that picked up the bleed. Synthrapol is designed to keep loose dye particles suspended in water so they can be rinsed away. It may take several washings in Synthrapol to lift all of the dye.

Both Retayne and Synthrapol require hot water. They also both require either a top-loading washer at home or a large front-loader at the laundromat because they need lots of water to work properly.

What kind of a washing machine do you have? A front-loader is more likely to create the kind of problem you have than a top-loader because front-loaders use so much less water.