A strong case for prewashing fabric
I will admit freely...I'm a prewasher. I have been since the 1st quilt I freemotioned on my domestic sewing machine had the border fabric run all over the white background. When I found color catchers, I thought I was home free. NOT SO FAST GRASSHOPPER! Here is the top being quilted :
Notice all the off white and white fabrics. And here it is after washing. 1st wash: color catchers were NAVY BLUE. I think I ended up washing it about 6 times total. After the 1st wash, I used Synthropol and at least 2 color catchers. The deposited blue dye never faded. Lesson learned!
Here is the good news:
#1 its for my older son and he won't care
#2 I kinda like the way it looks. Good thing as I cannot get that dye out now!
Lesson: When you prewash, use color catchers. If they come out NAVY BLUE, keep washing until they come out close to white. OR don't use that fabric! You have been warned! (oh, on the 1st wash? I used THREE color catcher and all 3 were navy blue)
Comments
I have also learned this lesson the hard way... jelly roll quilt with black background fabrics (you sure can't prewash a precut jelly roll!). It has been washed in retayne and synthropol and continues to bleed out whn it got wet in the storm that damaged my mom's house. Thankfully, the dyes came out, but the next time it gets wet, it will do it all over again.
Your reminder is timely for me... think I will wash (again) the black fabric for a t-shirt quilt. The dye catcher came out fairly dark. It sure would not hurt to give it another run through the washer rather than chance some dye bleeding!