NikkiLu

I have pre-washed (hand washed) over 200+ pieces of batiks - ALL bought at nice quilt shops - in a pure white dishpan and about 1/3 or 1/2 of them did bleed - of course, the brighter the colors, the more that they bled. Dark Blues are the worst, golds and browns are bleeders too. I don't have many reds, but cannot imagine that they would not bleed too. I threw away two of them - never did stop bleeding in rinse after rinse in cool water. I am not going to invest in a chemical to make them stop bleeding, personal preference here.

By the way, a big welcome to the Quilting Board. Ask away with any questions that you might have on other things too.

NikkiLu

OMG - same here! I showed the blue piece in my pure white dishpan to my husband and he swished it around and said it reminded him of an octopus squirting out his blue ink!

jillmc

I prewash all batiks....just to be safe. And usually it's one of the unsuspecting pieces that bleeds the most! Had to toss a piece of dark blue-I washed/soaked it for 2 days and it was still bleeding....but the new piece only needed one rinsing. Batiks are soooo pretty...don't be intimidated!

Prism99

Synthrapol is Synthrapol -- I don't think there are different kinds, just different ways of describing it. Usually quilt shops that cater to dyers carry it. Otherwise it is widely available online from places like Amazon, Dharma Trading, ProChem, etc. Here is a link to it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Synthrap...dp/B000YZ3UHQ/

Synthrapol requires *hot* water to work properly. I tend to use the largest front-loading washer at the laundromat so that there is plenty of water for the dye particles to disperse into. What Synthrapol does is suspend in the water any loose dye particles (dye particles that have not permanently bonded with the fiber).

There are two reasons why fabrics bleed.

One is when the manufacturer over-saturates the fabric with dye -- more than the fibers can absorb -- and does not rinse sufficiently to get all the loose dye particles out. This type of fabric, when prewashed, will stop bleeding after one or two washings.

The other reason is when the manufacturer failed to correctly set the dye. In this case the fabric will continue to bleed through many washings. This is when you can use Retayne at home to try to permanently set the dye. Some fabrics require two treatments with Retayne to stop bleeding. Any fabric that still bleeds after two treatments with Retayne should not be used for quilting. Also, once Retayne is used the finished quilt needs to be always washed in cold water as the Retayne treatment can be lost in hot water washes.

It's pretty easy to test fabrics. Cut a small piece (maybe 2 inches square) and place in a plastic cup of water. Leave for a couple of hours. If you see dye bleeding into the water, you may want to prewash. If there is no dye in the water, rub the damp fabric against a white fabric (or other fabrics in the quilt) to see if any dye transfers that way. Unless the fabric is an obvious bleeder, I do not bother to prewash *but* I do use Synthrapol in hot water in the largest front-loader at the laundromat for the first washing of a quilt.

HouseDragon

I prewash all my fabrics. That said, the worst case of bleeding dye was a medium green 100% cotton, not a batik. I keep it next to the washer to remind me "You never know" ..... I use colour catchers and wash in hot water with cold rinses until the last colour catcher comes out white.

BTW, colour catchers can be reused over and over again: they just get darker.

jeank

what about the batik jelly rolls. I have three packages I want to use, but reading this scares me. I want to put it with a light batik and make the quilt on the cover of scrap basket quilts book.

KerryK

Thank you so much for this information, and for the link. I will be ordering the Synthrapol, then finding a laundromat somewhere nearby. That could be the kicker! Thanks again!

toverly

I love my batiks! As a rule, I only wash reds, and dark colors. Most of my quilts are brights and when I do wash them, I just put in about 6 or 8 of the Shout Color Catchers. If the "catch" I do it again. Brights don't seem to fade like the darker ones. I would not prewash jelly rolls.

Lori S

Having sewn LOTS of batiks in the last twenty years.. I would never trust any of them not to run/bleed, no matter where you buy them or who made them.