KellieRiley

So I made a comic book quilt with lots of colors and lots of black. I put two color catchers in the wash (on delicate cycle, cold) and it picked up a lot of black. I also put it in the dryer on low. When I took it out I noticed the strips of light green and yellow looked faded and I'm wondering if it's just some of the black that bled? If so can I fix it? Or do colors just fade? I used Kona cotton solids

Prism99

I would wash again with Synthrapol and hot water.

lindaschipper

Never ever wash a quilt without using one or two sheets of Shouts Color Catchers. These magical sheets catch the colors that run and save the quilt from looking faded.

coopah

Kellie, you used Color Catchers which was good. I've used Kona black cotton before, and it does bleed. Many black fabrics seem to bleed. Prewashing helps...I use hot water on black to release the extra dye and also to get the maximum shrinking done. Sometimes the process needs to be repeated and I do that until the Color Catchers come out looking like when they went in (white). Some colors fade and so prewashing them lets you know that and whether you want to use them or not.

EmiliasNana

I have found black Kona always bleeds but so do some colors. I made a quilt for our DGD of rainbow batiks with a white background. It was a jelly roll so could not pre-wash so I used Sythrapol and then Color Catchers. The only color the Color Catchers picked up was LIME GREEN, not magenta or dark purple or hot pink, but lime green. I was shocked. There was no bleeding on the white however. Always best to prepare for the worst bleed and be pleasantly surprised if there is none.

meanmom

I usually put in 4 color catchers with most of my quilts the first time I wash them. I did have some luck with adding OxyClean to remove colors that bled. Good luck.

Bree123

Generally, you want the Color Catchers to not end up full of dye before it goes in the dryer. That said, low heat should not have set the dye if the change was due to the black bleeding. In that case, you should be able to pop it back in the washer with some more Color Catchers & just re-wash (I don't ever wash commercially dyed fabrics on anything but cold).

There are 2 other possibilities:
1) It was not bleeding, but crocking. Crocking is more common in prints than solids & happens when 2 fabrics or parts of a printed fabric with different colors rub against each other. I've not heard of any reliable solutions for treating crocking. If your fabrics were all solids, you could use Synthropol, followed by Retayne to properly set the dyes where they currently are, but that doesn't work for printed fabrics.
2) If you didn't pre-wash your fabrics, it's possible that the colors actually did "fade". I'm not sure what brand of the comic book fabric you bought, but I typically see those produced more for big box stores, than for LQS'es. Often they will add a chemical coating to the fabric that makes colors look more vibrant ... until the first time they go through the wash & the chemical coating is rinsed away.

Here's hoping it's just that some of the black bled in the wash. But even if you can't get it back to the original bright green & yellow, kids are very forgiving & it's likely they will absolutely adore a quilt made with their favorite characters and won't even notice the color change that seems so glaring to you.

KellieRiley

I used black jelly rolls so prewashing was not an option. So will the synthrapol remove what has bled? How do I use it with front loading machine?

MadQuilter

I wash at least twice with at least 4 color catchers each load. Lot of help I am, right?

Bree123

Here's the instructions for Synthropol LF (that's the low-foaming version made for HE washers). Note: you have to have the water at 140F (60C). If needed, add some boiling water to the machine before you start.
https://prochemicalanddye.net/auxili...hrapol-lf.html

For future reference, I do wash jelly rolls. I set my washer on cold, hand-wash/gentle cycle and then just dry partway in the dryer on low. I've only used Kona & Moda jelly rolls, but those don't shrink or unravel on me. The other option would be to hand wash them in a sink and let them air dry. With black, especially, I think it's worth it.

I have not used Synthropol on a finished quilt. One thing to consider is whether the fabrics you selected will shrink at different rates when exposed to the hot water. Depending on the thickness of the cotton yarn & the density of the weave used in each fabric, they could produce different rates of shrinkage.