I don't prewash my material. never have. No one in my family ever has..... after it is all done, should i wash it on gentle and hang to dry ??? Help! what are color catchers?

Have never used a color catcher...If I have a bright fabric, I try and pre-wash it...mostly I don't pre-wash, though. I just wash quilt on gentle cycle, then gently shake it out, and dry it on gentle for a few minutes. When damp dry, I drape it to finish drying, smoothing it out as needed...never had a problem yet...I have done hand quilts and machine quilts, both...
By the way, I do have a high efficiency front load washer...

I wash my quilts in warm water on the regular cycle. I put it in the dryer on the low heat setting and pull it out and rearrange it every 20 minutes or so. Color catchers are sheets like dryer fabric softner and they're in the laundry aisle.

I haven't pre-washed fabric in years and years.

I washed two yards for a quilt and that was it... too much work for me! lol... besides my aunt has made hundreds n never did either, but i hear so many people say to me, oh you should...

Color catchers "catch" the dye released from fabrics so it doesn't redeposit onto other fabrics in the same washer load.
When I wash a quilt, I set the water level on extra large, use Woolite detergent, cold water wash and rinse, gentle cycle. Dry on gentle cycle for ten minutes, then drape over my indoor drying rack overnight to finish.

Shout puts out a color catcher (and I think there are other brands.) It seems to be a type of toweling and If you put it in a washing machine with mixed colors that bleed, the cloth is supposed to catch the dye and trap itl I don't want to sound like a testimonial, but I have found it does catch quite a bit of the dye bleeding from bright colored fabrics. I really try to wash all my fabrics before using them. But sometimes, that is difficult, especially with charm packs and the like. I have several friends who have had quilts ruined because of dyes running. A couple involved batiks and a couple of others had reds bleed.

I'm a prewasher but I still wash quilts after they are completed for a variety of reasons. I wash in warm water, perm press cycle and dry until completely dry in the dryer. My dryer does have a 'humidistat' in that it senses when the load is dry. I use the perm press cycle in the dryer as well.

Do you have any scraps of the fabrics you can test to see if you have a running/bleeding problem? This can either put your mnd at ease or let you know you have an issue to eal with before you put in a washer.

I don't pre-wash my fabric either. I use two color catchers in cold water on the delicate cycle and hold my breathe. Line dry. Have never had a problem. Even the time I accidently put a fabric softener sheet in the wash instead of the color catcher. Guess the quilt guardian angel was watching over me that day.

I am not a pre-washer. I know that one day this will probably come back to bite me, but I hate all of that ironing. I swear by the color catchers. They work great. A sampler quilt that I made for my sister all in blues had one fabric that ran the first time that she washed it. I told her to throw it back in the washer with one of the color catchers that I had sent with the quillt. She did and it came out fine..it removed the color that had bled.