I have a quilt top that has taken 2 years to make. I made it for my fiance. It's pretty special as most of the fabrics were bought on trips that we took, and some are fabrics that FH picked out himself. I even have a name picked out for it, based on where we spent our first weekend away. He knows I was working on a quilt for him, but since it has been so long, I'm sure he thinks I've forgotten about it. My plan is to quilt it at my LQS on their long-arm and have it finished in time for Christmas

It is a mixture of batiks and regular fabrics and quite pretty if I say so myself. None of the batiks were prewashed, since some were from Bali Pops. My background fabrics were unwashed as well. Tonight, I got the top out of hiding to get it ready for quilting next week. As I was inspecting the top, I noticed 2 spots on the background fabric. No big deal, I thought. I would just take it to the sink and spot clean. I didn't even think of the batiks bleeding onto my light blue background. I took the top into the bathroom to let it hang to dry on the shower rod (at this point there were only 2 small spots that were wet, so I wasn't too worried about it stretching).

That's when I noticed big blotches of dye on the background fabric. So I panicked. I ended up rinsing the entire top in the tub and getting most of the excess dye out. I checked each piece of background and didn't notice any more bleeding. Right now, the top is spread out on my bathroom floor on towels with a fan blowing on it. I'm sick about this right now. I just hope that tomorrow when I check on it, the dye hasn't bled again. I put towels between the main culprit and the rest of the quilt, but there are bits of batik all through the top. Please keep your fingers crossed that I haven't ruined this top.

fingers crossed!

That's too bad.

Get the quilt quilted and then wash it in lots of water with some color catchers. The color catchers will pick that excess dye up out of the water. Since the dye isn't set in the batik it won't be set on the background fabric either and it will wash out. It may take more than one wash but it will wash out.

Keeping my fingers crossed. Don't put it in the dryer if there are any more bleeds as that will set the colour. Don't know what I would do. Pick a backing that will look good but hide any later bleeds and quilt it up if it's stopped bleeding? Do get Color catchers for future adventures in washing the quilt.

The dryer won't set the color. Ever washed a pair of whity tighties with a red shirt and have them come out pink? Another 3 or 4 washes and the whity tighties are white again.

You have to do some thing chemically to set modern chemical dyes.

okay this makes me feel a little better. I keep checking on it and haven't noticed any new bleeds. (I feel like I'm talking about a patient at work!) I will definitely be washing it with an entire box of color catchers when the time comes.

Good luck-can you post a photo of it? Would love to see it-sounds lovely!

batiks pretty much always bleed some---they are hand dyed and have excess dye in them that needs to be washed out-
when the quilt is all finished you should wash it in a washer with Synthropol-which is an additive that will keep the fugitive dyes from getting on other fabrics- will keep the dye in the water- it is important to follow the instructions- and it is important to remove it immediately when it is done---don't let parts touch other parts while wet.
then rinse it again with color catchers.
and
when it's all done- only you will know if any fabrics caused marks on other fabrics- anyone else looking at it will only think that is how the fabrics were from the beginning.

for future reference---always prewash batiks---if you buy pre-cuts put them into a mesh laundry bag to keep them from getting tangled- or fraying

only you will know it's not exactly what you planned- but hopefully most of it will come out-finish the quilt===then deal with it- if you try to deal with it before it's put together you will also have frayed edges and other problems to deal with

I had a finished top bleed this week - even with Color Catchers and Synthrapol in the water. My last resort (after washing it six times in cold water) to get the color out of the light patches was to toss it in the wash with Oxyclean. It did the trick!