Synnove

I am washing, for the fifth time, a red fabric for a quilt that also will have white in it. Despite using multiple color catchers, it's still bleeding dye. I know some would say just get rid of it or don't use it, but I really need this particular red. If I use Retayne on it, will the fabric never bleed again? This quilt will be washed many times, as it's for a baby.

Peckish

I've had much better luck with a little Dawn dish soap, a LOT of very hot water, and time.
For what it's worth, this quilter and hand-dyer tested a bunch of different products and found that this combo (Dawn, hot water, time) worked better than Retayne, Synthrapol, and Rit dye fix.

https://www.colorwaysbyvicki.com/sav...ing-quilt.html

Christine-

Retayne will permanently lock dye into a fabric when it is used with "very hot" water. The fabric will never bleed again if you wash an item in cold, cool, or warm water. But if the fabric is washed again in "very hot" water the retayne will wash away.

See further: http://mansewing.com/wp-content/uplo...synthrapol.pdf

betthequilter

I get good results using vinegar in stopping the bleeding.

QuiltingPandaBear

Do you all always pre-treat red fabrics with these products, or only those that are evidencing bleeding? And how do you know they are bleeding? I pre wash fabric before sewing but I segregate fabrics, so I’m not sure I would know if it was bleeding. I have just been assuming a hot wash has gotten the worst of the initial bleed out and moved on to sewing.

cashs_mom

Put the wet fabric on a white paper towel for a few minutes. You'll know if its bleeding

QuiltingPandaBear

Thank you for the tip!

Synnove

You can use a color catcher (sold in the laundry aisle at the grocery store) when you prewash the fabric. If the catcher has color on it when it comes out of the wash, it has absorbed dye from the fabric. Especially with reds, I wash them repeatedly, using a fresh color catcher each time, til the color catchers is barely pink.

cashs_mom

I know this is an old thread, but I've just had a bleeding issue and Retayne was the only thing that saved the fabric. I bought some flannel backing fabric for a baby quilt. I washed the backing with color catchers 3x and it was still bleeding. Soaked it overnight in Dawn. Washed it yet again with color catchers. Still bleeding. Washed it with vinegar. Still bleeding. I washed it with Synthrapol, still bleeding. I finally got some Retayne and washed it with that and it at long last quit bleeding. The color catchers came out white.

Iceblossom

I was cleaning up some of my pictures the other day and came across this one, showing a red print fabric and the amount of cast off in the color catchers. I think I may have posted something about what I was doing for treatments between the pictures.

Anyway, shows the amount of cast off -- can be remarkable!!