jillmc

I use them with each first washing of a quilt...they come out white for the most part. Last week I tried cutting one in half-it came out white and the quilt looks great!

silliness

I didn't know that I could reuse them. I had a recent color bleeding situation with a load of blue solids where I used a color catcher and cold water. The color catcher came out light blue so I put everything in the dryer thinking that there wasn't that much bleeding. When I went to iron the fabrics, most of the fabrics had bleeding marks on them. Since I have already dried them, I read that it likely won't come out. Since one new one failed to catch the excess color in my load, I cannot imagine reusing one. It sounds like I need to use Synthropol and 3 new color catchers on hot water in all of my future prewashes. It feels like I am being overly paranoid, but I likely just ruined a load of ~$200 worth of fabric, and don't want to repeat that mistake.

alleyoop1

If I'm going to all the expense and work to make a precious quilt I want to be sure the colors don't bleed on to one another. I throw in 2 to 4 color catchers, depending on how dark the fabric is. Then I discard them. To me it's a small price to pay to keep my work looking good. I've made holiday pillowcases for all the little ones in the family and usually include a box of color catchers with each gift to keep them looking good too. However the idea of making my own intrigues me and I might give it a try.

nancyw

I only use them once. I believe the washing soda washes out of them, too.

Bubbie

Washing soda wont work on it's own, because you didn't give it anything to catch the color with. Without the cloth that has been soaked in the washing soda (and dried), the color has nothing to be attracted too. So the color is still floating free in the washer to get on other things.

maviskw

I just had an idea. (Stupid? ? ?) Save all your used homemade color catchers. Sew them all together and you will have a cute quilt? ? ?

Girlfriend

I agree with this thinking. The chemical has been washed out of the color catcher, hence, they don't work for multiple uses. It would be interesting to call the company's 800 # and ask.

Roberta

I've used them up to three times or until they really begin to darken. This has always worked for me.

Sewnoma

I tend to pile up new fabric until I have enough for 2-3 loads (since I leave lots of water space, I do rather small loads so that's not as much as it sounds) - I divide the pile by color and start with lightest colors first first and will re-use those color catchers in the next wash, with a fresh one added. But then when I'm done I'll toss them all, they are usually all dark by that point.

I'm intrigued by the idea of pre-treating a washcloth with washing soda and using that, though. I've used these before and they worked great: http://www.amazon.com/Color-Dirt-Gra.../dp/B008O6L9PM

mjsylvstr

just once, I figure that once used it will probably be useless thereafter