bearisgray

It does seem odd to me that products like Retayne and Synthrapol and color catchers should even be necessary with commercially dyed fabrics that one buys off the bolt at any store.

feline fanatic

don't forget there are loads of hand dyers out there. That is why these products are available, for the people who still hand dye.

Commercial products all depends on the factory and the processes they use. Batiks are still pretty much made the same way they have been for hundreds of years. The batik manufacturers in Indonesia are still done out in the open air, not even in a building.

Tartan

I agree! Fabric should be ready to use without having to prewash, and wash, and wash.........

popover

I have never in 40 years prewashed anything but hand dyed or batik. But I don't wash quilts in boiling hot water, either.

coopah

Prewash makes sense to me, but I have asthma. I have had black, red, green, purple and blue bleed. It's just better for me to prewash than to have to redo or rip out. It's all a matter of preference, isnt it? Oh, and I buy my fabrics at a quilt shop...except for Legacy muslin at JoAnn's.

bearisgray

I am aware of the hand dyers.

I was commenting on the commercially dyed fabrics that it would seem "reasonable" to me that the dyes should be "set" when I buy them.

toverly

I agree with you. They should be "set" already. Cheap manufacturing is sometimes hard to spot.