Fabric Bleeding

 

I made a mask for Aaron from this fabric, I had just a small piece left from something, I can't even imagine what.

He really liked it and it was nice for a boy, but the mask got wet and the red bled.  I have enough fabric  left for another mask or two, so I soaked it in really hot water with dish detergent.  The water turned purple, both the blue and the red had excess dye.

I know there are various products for "catching" excess dye in the wash, but it's been a long time since I've prewashed fabrics.  I use a spray bottle and a dry iron for pressing quilt fabrics and if there is any bleeding it becomes obvious but I almost never have any problems.  This piece of fabric is probably pretty old, probably inexpensive.  

I like to quilt densely, then wash the finished quilt and I want some fabric shrinkage so the quilting stands out.  And more of us are using precuts these days, and prewashing isn't an option.  There isn't a right answer about whether to prewash.  Here is a good article from Moda, a manufacture of nice fabrics.  https://my.modafabrics.com/2018/02/to-wash-or-not-to-wash/  

I will be more careful as I use older fabric pieces for masks, especially those with bright colors.