This may have been addressed many times before so please forgive me if so. I am putting my hand applique blocks together then comes border #1 then #2 has lots and lots of hand applique. The question I need help with is that this was a block of the month from a shop that sent me the fabric each month. The applique fabrics are all batik and I didn't know any better at the beginning so didn't pre-wash or pre-fade these fabrics. I have two blocks with brown 'bleed' on them and one with hot pink 'bleed' on it. How can I get this out of my blocks??? Needless to say each block has lots and lots of hours in it. Thanks ever so much in advance. Sue

Is color bleeding from one fabric to another WITHOUT washing them?

Hope someone can help you.

I think you will need to wait until the quilt is finished, then wash with synthrapol in hot water. It might need more than one washing, but if the bleeding is from the dry fabrics then it's probably not too bad. Try to keep the fabrics from rubbing against one another until you get to that stage. There are others on the board who have more experience with fabric dyes, though, and they may have better recommendations.

I didn't make my question clear--sorry about that. I used the water removable blue marker to mark where each applique piece was to go. AFTER I finished appliqueing each block I used cold water to remove the blue marks from the fabric. That is when the brown and hot pink bled to other fabrics in that block. After realizing this, I washed each batik fabric with Retayne BEFORE using them. So all in all there are 3 or 4 blocks with die bleed on them. Thanks Sue

I've lived a similar experience when a misplaced unplugged iron dripped onto an unquilted table runner.
The red from the sashing fabric ran on the white background. If these stains were not going to come out, I was not going to quilt it so I went ahead and soaked in my sink in cold water and a product called Dye Grabber. Once in a while I gently moved the runner & dye grabber around. After approx. 15-20 min. the dye grabber had absorbed all the dye from the table runner.
Good luck. Let me know if these worked for you.

Look for Zout in the laundry aisle. It is a liquid product for stain removal. Trace around the seamlines of the offending block and wash. Bleeding disappears. I had a mini with some red squares in it (1/4" square) and they bled to the light colored squares. I squeezed a thin line of Zout on the bled areas and soaked the mini in a bowl of cool water for just a short time. When blocks were clear I rinsed in cool water, then rolled the quilt between a terry towel and squeezed excess water out. It worked for me!

thanks for your help

I have some Zout in my cabinet so I will try that first. If that doesn't work I will go into town and find the Dye Grabber. Thanks ever so much. Sue

Let us know how it works for you.

Try Color Catchers-found in the laundry section in grocery store. They're made by Shout. I had hot pink run into white in a quilt after I'd washed it. Threw one of the sheets in with it (I had already run it through the dryer too) and all the bleeding came out. Now I give a sheet with each gifted quilt-just incase