I never heard of color cather but thanks I bought my first set of jelly rolls and I am worried ,They weren't cheep.
nanamo

If you "wash" them in the sink, you can also spin dry them with a salad spinner to get most of the water out before pressing them.

I have looked in four stores for color catchers to see how much they cost, bi-mart,safeway,fred meyer and target. and I cant find them. Penny

If absolutely must wash them, do it in the kitchen sink
(remove the dirty dishes first), or in the bathroom sink
(rinse the sink after hubby shaves). Swish them around
in soapy water gently, let soak for 10-15 minutes, then
rinse til all the soap is out. Don't ever wash them in
the washing machine (at least not til you're done quilting).
Use color guard if desired. (I've never had one bleed).
squeeze water out and iron them instead of putting in the
dryer.

I have purchased them at Target and Walmart both. They are in the area of the laundry detergents. They are sold in smallish boxes (about 3 inches x 6 inches).

Shout is the brand of color catchers I have found. Here is a link to a picture of the box:
http://www.drugstore.com/qxp73784_33...ash_cloths.htm

Incidentally, they don't trap *all* dye particles if the fabric is bleeding a lot. I have found with black clothing, especially, it isn't enough to just throw one of these in the wash; any whites will still come out dingy from the bleeding black dye. It just "frosts my cookies" (as my dh would say) when my teenage dd buys black pants with white trim; the black always bleeds!

Nothing is completely safe. That's why it's still a good idea to test any suspicious fabrics even if you wash quilts in Synthrapol.

I have made 3 different sized mesh bags (toole) with a drawstring that I wash smaller pieces in, and it seems to keep them from fraying. And I never, never dry them in the dryer. Just press them after the spin cycle.

Thanks for all the great tips everyone! I wouldn't put jelly roll pieces in the dryer either, but I handwashed them several times, used vinegar, and they still bled a bit. I may just use them for projects that are either tonal or not that important to me.
I ordered a Moda jelly roll and hopefully that will work out better and not bleed.
I'm also looking into retayne and purchased the colour catcher. Thanks for all the input, this thread has been very interesting!

When I did a BOM last year, the kit I got each month was in small pieces and I asked about prewashing and the lady said with todays. Quality fabrics there is not much shrinkage. She also said that she's neveR had a problem. I wonder if it depends on dye lot, brand and the fact that some colors tend to bleed more just because ! I for one am usually to impatient to get started on my quilt to putz around and test every piece of fabric that comes in this house. There's a good chance that this decision could bite my in the butt someday!LOL

I used these on a white and red and it worked wonderfully! The red did not bleed! I also used it on a green with whites. I would recommend!

It's true that shrinkage is typically not a problem with quality fabrics today. However, factories still make mistakes or cut corners when it comes to rinsing excess dyes out of certain fabrics (usually very deep colors), and once in awhile they cut corners on the mordants (that set the dyes) so the dye isn't as permanent as it should be.

I'm comfortable not prewashing and using Synthrapol for a quilt's first wash. However, I will still cut off a few inches of a fabric and test it for colorfastness if I think it might bleed. All this requires is dropping it in a glass of water for a few hours to see if the water becomes tinted, and then rubbing the wet fabric against a piece of white fabric to make sure that the dye doesn't "crock". Simple tests like this can save a lot of grief.