Battle Axe

I bought a Jelly roll of batiks and sewed them together in sets of 4 without measuring anything. They can be cut wrong. Mine were all over the board. So now I have them trimmed up and sewn to a diagonal strip of white. There they sit on the UFO shelf in a tub.

NJ Quilter

I'm normally a pre-washer anyhow so I would pre-wash the batiks as well. I just prefer to use pre-washed fabric. I also agree, however, with those posters who have said that they've not had batiks bleed any more than any other type of cotton fabric.

Mkotch

I pre-wash anything in the red family, including hot pink, and have stopped prewashing most others, including batiks. But don't avoid using these beautiful fabrics simply because they might bleed. They really do add a wonderful dimension to quilts!

jmoore

The quilt in my avatar did bleed a bit on it’s first washing but there were a lot of reds and a white sashing. : /

Lena1952

I snip off a corner and hand wash in hot water with the detergent I would use for machine was. Swish the swatch around until well saturated, then lay on white paper towel. If it's going to bleed you will see it on the towel. I have had reds with no bleeding. But the worst case was a turquoise. I hade to wash that one twice! I also swear by color catchers. Love sewing on batiks!

sJens

I do prewash my fabrics and use color catchers if I wash different colors together. I have never had bleeding with any of my batiks but do buy them at a quilt store not JoAnn's-Walmart etc. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Snooze2978

Batiks do bleed or at least some of them do. Some more than others. I tend to starch all my fabrics before I cut into them. So if they're going to bleed, they'll do it in my starch. Plus by starching I find they're less likely to fray. Just finished a BOM quilt and these batiks frayed like crazy. In the past I didn't have as much trouble with this happening with batiks. Are they making them differently as I thought they were more tightly woven so less fraying?

ckcowl

Some do, some don’t. Bunching them all together is like saying All Quilters only hand stitch.
I use a lot of batiks. If I’m using lights along with very dark, saturated colors I check- especially reds, purples, deep blues to see if they are going to bleed. If they do I prewash, if they pass the test I don’t. I usually toss a color catcher in when I launder my finishe ( batik containing) quilt just to be safe. I’ve seldom had a problem. Some shop owners seem to group {hand dyes and batiks} into the same group....they are quite different and hand dyes tend to contain a lot of excess dye ( are just rinsed out after dyeing) batiks are boiled to remove the wax- not that common to have them still full of excess dye.

EmiliasNana

I have used bright vibrant precuts with a pure white background and backing, that cannot be prewashed. Using synthrapol and Color Catchers was a breeze and no bleeding was evident in the quilt. Remarkably the only color that showed up on the Color Catchers was lime green, not fuschia or purple or hot pink. Go figure!

toverly

I love batiks. I generally don't prewash. But every once and a while, there will be yardage that feels stiff with dye. Dark blues, reds, hunter greens contain a lot of dye so they get prewashed. I have found that the occasional bleeder doesn't really show much. The lightest batik is usually an almond color so if it is pinker or bluer, it doesn't matter. However, if I made a batik quilt with snow white solid, I would prewash everythingl It all depends on the pattern.