good to know

And why would you keep washing? Sometimes that will NOT stop the bleeding.
Did you read the posts about Retayne? and its effects?

yes, thank you! I have a quilt project on the drawing stage and think the background will be black and wondering about this.

Some should not read this unless sitting down but I recommend black with polyester. It holds the dye and not bleed. I don't like the look of faded black and it will look that way with time and use.

I bought the Retayne and Synthrapol years ago when I was making memory quilts, it worked very well on the printer fabric to set the ink. I love black in my quilts and have only ever used Kona cottons I washed it once and didn't have any loose dye! I am from the school of I wash all my yardage no exception, that's what I was taught to do so why change it now.

This is so true about cotton/poly. I use the blend a lot for solid colors. A black cotton fabric shouldn't be washed often and then in Woolite for dark fabrics. I think Cheer has a dark fabric detergent tool.

Follow up:
I let the fabric soak overnight in hot water fully submerged.
The next day the water was a little blue. I washed it in Retayne
and let it dry. I didn't see any loose dye and did a crocking test on dry.
Looks fine. Thanks for all your advice.

I have used the Michael Miller Jet Black and never really had issues. I just looked on Over the Rainbow and they still carry it: http://www.overrainbow.com/cgi-bin/S...es=0&lastmenu=.

You might want to get some Colour Catchers, to help you keep an eye on whether fabrics bleed or not. Sometimes it is not really evident in the water.