Remember, before starting a project, newly purchased fabric should be washed and dried prior to use. This will pre-shrink the fabric. You will also want to test for colorfastness at this time (reds in particular).
You can do this by filling a glass or bowl with water and a drop of liquid soap. Add a small piece of the fabric. If the water turns colors it is not a colorfast dye. As an alternative test, you can wet a piece of fabric and press between two pieces of white fabric or a paper towel to determine if the dye transfers.
If it does, you can either not use this fabric in your project or attempt to set the dye. You can soak the fabric in cold water with a handful of salt. Or you can soak it in hot water with white vinegar, but only if the fabric can be washed in hot water. You may want to recheck colorfastness after doing either of these options to make sure it is fully set.
Taking the time to set dye at the beginning will help prevent bleeding in the future that may ruin the entire project.
By lalala... from Port Orchard
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It's hard to find anything that is colorfast today! What happened to colorfast fabrics? Nearly everything I buy from the plus size stores or mail order catalogs has colors running when I wash them, except for acrylic items.
When my dad was very young he had a job dying fabrics the old-fashioned way. He knew which dyes were colorfast and which were not. To this day colorfastness is a major concern for him when buying clothes.
A tip from my dad: Dickies has the most colorfast black.
Note: if making a garment for yourself or someone in your household, pre-wash / dry the fabric in exactly the same way you normally treat laundry. For example, if you customarily wash clothing in cold water, tumble to the damp / dry stage then hang to dry completely, do exactly the same with fabric before cutting / sewing.
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