Maybe you could have someone in the States mail you a box? You might also look for Retayne and Synthropol at your quilt store.

Vinegar doesn't do anything for modern dyes.

if you can't find it, i will mail you a box..let me know. i mail overseas all the time, my mum lives in England. no big deal. Kim

You can get colour catchers in the UK - I think they're made by Vanish there.

I have had a jelly roll run. I rinsed them in the sink and my water turned a nice pink. The navy and brown strips made the water a nice mud color. Put them in the dryer and they shrunk and I know how pre cut strips that measure between a two and half and two and a quarter inches. NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN WILL I BUY a jelly roll unless it is all light colors and the blender/background fabric is also light and of the same line. But I am a pre-washer, and always will be.

Here's a link for Color Catchers. I use them all the time. Hopefully you can see the link in the UK.

http://www.shoutitout.com/preserve-colors.aspx

I don't prewash fabric, but do always wash a quilt in Synthrapol for the first time (and for subsequent washings if there is any color in the water). Synthrapol suspends unset dye particles in water so they are rinsed away.

You can "test" fabrics in a jelly roll by getting inexpensive clear plastic cups, filling them with water, and putting a piece of each fabric in a cup. Let sit to see if any color bleeds into the water. Also, afterwards, rub each fabric against a white fabric to see if there is any color transfer. If the fabrics pass these two tests, you can be confident that the quilt will wash up without bleeding -- especially if you use Synthrapol.

Vinegar was used in the past to set natural dyes. Dyes these days are almost all chemical in origin, and vinegar usually does not work to set them.

This kind of fabric is a "bleeder", which means there are unset dye particles in the fabric.

Sometimes it is simply excess dye particles -- more dye than the fabric was able to absorb, and not enough rinsing to get rid of the excess. In this case, rinsing repeatedly until no more dye bleeds into the water will solve the problem.

However, sometimes the dye was never set correctly in the fabric. When this is the case, the fabric will continue to bleed every time it is washed unless you can permanently set the dye. Retayne is a solution that chemically sets most dyes and is available for home use.

Retayne is only appropriate to use on one fabric at a time because it permanently sets dye. It should *never* be used to wash a completed quilt because it will permanently set bleeds into other fabrics. Finished quilts are washed in Synthrapol.

That's interesting Prism - I use vinegar because that's what my Mum told me! So it probably 'works' on my batiks only because the excess dye soaks into the water - the vinegar is superfluous?

Probably. Even batik dyes are primarily chemical in origin these days. Most likely you are just rinsing out excess dye from the fabric and the vinegar isn't doing anything. You could divide yardage in half, rinse half in plain water and half in vinegar water to see if there is any difference. My bet is there won't be any difference.

OK I'll give it a try next time I buy batiks!