Help, please!
 

I have a quilt top that has a dark purple batik border. Due to my absent-mindedness I didn't prewash the fabric. The rest of the quilt top is composed of various blue, green, turquoise batiks. I tested the purple batik today and it bleeds like crazy! I usually wash my tops in Retayne, have never used color catchers.

Question: Can I use both Retayne and color catchers at the same time? Or should I use just one or the other? Retayne label says use hot water, but I don't know if that's a good idea.

Another question: I am going to have some text embroidered on some of the blocks. Should I wash the top before the embroidery is done?

Thanks for any help!

Retayne should be used prior to any construction. Using it after construction can fix bleeds to the other fabrics in the quilt. Use Synthropol after a quilt is complete in the wash cycle , it suspends dyes that have have been shed preventing staining of other fabrics in the quilt. You can finish the quilt and wash with synthropol for the first few washes.

If you are sure it is going to bleed a lot you might consider just taking the border off and washing it until it quits bleeding, then put it back on. It would be a shame to ruin your other work because of a bleeder. Sounds like a lot of work, but that's better than ruining the whole quilt.

Wash in the temperature water that is advised by the product that you use - it will make a big difference in how the product works!

Take some scraps of all the fabrics and put them in a container with really hot water. Let them sit for a while and then check all the fabrics to see if they're the same color as they were to start with. It does *not* matter what color the water is, it only matters what color the fabric is that comes out of the water.

The fabric that *picks up* the excess dye is the real problem fabric.

I always cut a small sample of each fabric that I will be using in a quilt and wash then together to see if any of the colors run before I piece my blocks. That way, I can eliminate any fabric that will be a runner.

Thanks for sharing this. I've been concerned about the quilt I'm currently working on being a problem. I had just planned to use color catchers, which I found out about just recently. But your testing method will let me know what will happen in advance. Seems silly to me now but it never dawned on me to use test fabric. It was always on my mind that I'd have to prewash all the fabric. Since I'm not fond of working with prewashed, I've always just taken a chance. Your method will help me alot.