What was in it?
 

I started soaking unwashed fabrics in buckets, pans, or bowls before washing them.

Sometimes I wonder what came out of the fabrics when I look at the water. I'm not talking about dye that has been released.

might be kerosene ... once bought a knock-off Cabbage Patch doll that stank so bad, I could never use it!

It may be the chemical they put in to keep mold and mildew out while storing and shipping.

Yikes! I guess I never thought about it until now.

Yes, it can be amazing. The color of the water can be something completely different from the color of the fabric.

Lots of times formeldihyde (sp) is used to set the color. My mom was allergic to it and could always tell if the fabric had been treated with it.

It's when I wash a pastel fabric - and the water turns brown - and has bubbles - that I really wonder!

The formaldehyde smell is awful. I can remember going in fabric stores and having my eyes burn from it.

I have to wash ALL fabrics before I can use them because something is in them / on them that irritates my eyes,nose
throat or skin more and more as I get older. It ha gotten worse and testing for what it is does not reveal anything specific. Precuts are tricky but they must have some treatment too. Sink washing with soap meant for knits and Retayne , then BestPress , is what I do. Jelly rolls are sewed, then rinsed and ironed as above.

Angela Walters calls it by a name and that is "fondling" or something similar.

You would think that with all the formaldehyde on fabric (and a lot of fabrics have it) that we would all look younger, after all it is a preservative. LOL