carol45

I always test my fabric in hot water to see if it will bleed before I prewash. Since so much fabric seems to bleed when I do this, I'm thinking maybe I should never wash it in hot water; maybe washing it in hot water causes it to start bleeding, and if I only ever washed it in cold water I wouldn't ever, or rarely, have a bleeding problem. And since I only wash my completed quilts in cold water, there would never be a problem. Does anyone have any experience with this, or thoughts/advice to offer?

Bree123

I only use cold water, Tide free on the gentle or hand wash cycle in the washer & low heat in the dryer. In addition to the issue with dyes, hot water shortens the cotton fibers making them more prone to damage over the years. I don't ever wash in hot water.

Reactive dyes only hold up in temps up to 140F (60C). Hot water is anything 130F and up, depending on what your water heater is set at so you might want to check what your water heater is set at. In fact, I've been starting to study fabric dying & hot water is actually recommended as a solution to remove excess from dye accidents. Crocking can also occur due to the friction, so that's why I wash at a slow speed.

Except when I have a hand-dyed fabric (that includes some batiks), I just throw it in the wash as soon as I get home. With hand-dyed, I throw in a Color Catcher. If the Color Catcher comes out a very saturated color, I will wash a second time before transferring to the dryer. The only time I ever pre-wash in warm water (never hot) & medium/med-high heat is if I believe the client/recipient will refuse to wash quilts in cold water.

EasyPeezy

I never test in hot water because I always wash in cold. If it bleeds in cold
then there's a problem and I need to fix it or trash it. Never trashed
any so far. I try to buy good quality fabric as much as possible.
I suppose it could be a problem if you make quilts to give away and
the recipient doesn't follow your washing instructions.

Keeping my fingers crossed...I have a red and white quilt in the making.
I've washed the red several times in Retayne so I hope it will be ok.
Will use a few Shout color catchers for the first wash and see what
happens.

Bree123

EasyPeezy, sorry to sidetrack the conversation, but you could try adding either salt or vinegar (or both) to the wash to prevent bleeding. Vinegar works best if it's a natural dye. Salt seems to help more with synthetic dyes. I've used 1/4C white vinegar & cold water with indigo dyed fabrics and 1/2C salt with this crazy set of red canvas drapes I bought at Target some years back. So beautiful -- bled like crazy. One wash with the salt & I've not had any problems since.

ManiacQuilter2

I only wash in cold water when I do wash fabric. I only test dark navy and dark red prints.

NikkiLu

I prewashed by hand in the white kitchen sink all of my batiks and I found one dark blue that never quit bleeding - so I tried salt, vinegar, etc. etc. and everything that I could think of and everything that I found on the QB but wound up having to throw it away because my DH kidded me that it looked like the ink that an octopus squirts out. I now have bought some Retayne (have not used it yet), it case that I have another bleeder.

suern3

I prewash most fabric, not all, but I've never washed any fabric in hot water. I wouldn't wash a quilt in hot water and I feel it would be needlessly hard on the fabric to prewash in hot. Some people recommend hot water for prewashing flannel due to shrinking but I still don't do it. JMHO

NJ Quilter

I don't test but I do prewash in warm/hot water. Have only ever had one issue. That was a green fabric from Joann's a number of years ago that was crocking (rubbing off vs bleeding). I wash/dry as I expect recipients will. No problems yet.

grammysharon

I never wash quilts or fabric in hot water, always cold on delicate cycle.

Snooze2978

I starch all my fabrics before I cut them and yes they will bleed even in cold water. When one does bleed for me I take it out of the starch tub and put it in my bathroom sink with blue Dawn dish soap and hot water till it quits bleeding. Someone stated the new dyes used these days isn't effected using the vinegar method so I tried the blue Dawn and it seems to do the trick for me. I still will throw in a color catcher when the completed quilt goes into the washer for the 1st time. If it shows color bleeding then I'll put it thru another wash cycle till it quits bleeding. Saves the hysterics by the new recipent this way.