Do pretreat with Retayne. Many batiks will not always run immediately since some still have a amount of resist still in the fabrics . I am always concerned when someone tells me they have not had a problem ...yet! Even if it had gone thru the wash and there was not a problem ... Considering there is a chance that a quilt could be left in the washer over night after it has completed a cycle and there is still water in the fibers ... this can have the dyes migrate to neighboring fabrics. I ahve had others tell me that the fabrics ran on the second wash , this is because there was some resit , and the soap eventually removed it and then they ran. I have found the Hoffman 1895's to be some of the worst for running and bleeding.
Note the manufacture recommends hot water (140) for pretreating with Retayne. Why risk a disaster?

It's not just that. When a batik bleeds a lot, it can actually change so much that it does not resemble the fabric you bought originally. That happened to me once (not a batik though). By the time the bleeding stopped, a beautiful indigo looked like a lifeless gray.

One Word - Retayne !
This is some of the best stuff in the world! You only have to use it once and you can wash red with white with no running. I use it on my clothes. It's great stuff! I always say I should do commercials for it, cuz I'm always pushing it at the quilt shop..LOL ! Try it, and if it doesn't work, I'll reimburse your fabric! That's how sure of it I am! But u have to use it properly, read the directions!
Have fun and good luck -
Tracy

i sort them by color, toss them into the washer, add a little detergent, and wash them on a normal cycle. then i toss them into the dryer...when they come out i enjoy ironing , caressing them :thumbup:

So true !! I had the same experience with a fabulous blue, then after the bleeding .... well not so fabulous gray.

There's someone who's on the board who sells Retayne at their website/shop. I forget the name (sorry), but the info. is in another thread re: washing batik jelly rolls. (I had a similar question .. about washing jelly roll strips if they happened to be batiks..).

Still haven't bought the stuff, but I will. I'm not ready to use those batiks yet... still got two other wips and need to whip up!

I checked my purple batik I mentioned earlier. Had been planning the colors to use with it - and had folded up one of the light blues with the purple batik and put it on the shelf. Guess what! When I unfolded it yesterday, there was purple dye all over the light blue - just from folding them together.

I'm cutting my losses now, and throwing that one away. Don't remember which store I bought it from (after Oct last year), so can't warn you about that particular fabric. I really really appreciate this thread! Since I hand quilt, I'm thinking I want to buy only guaranteed colorfast fabric.