At this point, I'd stitch a small piece of white to the red and wash it without a color catcher. You need to find out if it's safe to use. To answer your question, I wash everything in warm with a cold rinse.

I find some reds just bleed more than others. I wash all new fabrics in warm and use color catchers in all with good luck. If a it keeps fading I wash it until it stops and if it looks like it wont I discard it.

I have noticed that some fabrics seem to be "repellent" to excess dye and others seem to "attract" it.

The color catchers will not stop colors from bleeding. You have to use the Retayne for that. Then testing with the color catchers is probably a smart thing dea.

Quite honestly, I find color catchers to be a waste of time and money. Dab of Dawn and a bathtub full of hot water, soak the fabric overnight and it's done bleeding. This has worked for me every time.

I don’t pre-wash my fabric. If I’m concerned about a particular fabric, I’ll cut a strip off, soak in hot water to see if it bleeds. I make lots of queen size quilts. I use bright fabrics. I always wash the quilt before gifting in cold water with 4 color catchers. There is a little color on the catchers, but the quilts come out looking great. I’ve kept a quilt or two for myself and for the second washing, I didn’t use a color catcher, and they were fine.

I don't prewash fabric either. I use 1 Color Catcher in cold water when washing my completed quilts. I also transfer the catcher to the dryer with the now washed quilt. Haven't had any complaints about fabrics bleeding from the recepients of my quilts.

I use Shout color catchers with every laundry load. I don't sort my colors any more. The box of them are inexpensive at Walmart and I use whatever detergent is on sale, none of my clothes get dirt dirty so any detergent will clean fine. I test dark colored fabrics to see if I need to wash them first. No use wasting time and money if they don't bleed. I always wash my quilts after they are made and I use a couple of color catchers.

Thanks, I didn't know that

I haven't bought color catchers in a while and now when shopping for them, I see that they now come in boxes of 24 or 72 and are like softener sheets. Do they not make the one color catcher that was like a piece of terry cloth any longer? Which ones do you use Shout or Carbona? I see from the responses to this thread that you use 2 or more in a load. Are you using the ones like fabric softener sheets or the ones like terry cloth? Do these work like the terry cloth one?
Thank you for any help......I have made a California King quilt and want to make sure that there are no surprises when washed.
Murphy