image via onehourtees.com So I had been wondering about color catchers and wanted to do a little experiment. I had been asked by people in the past about using the color catchers. I had used them some and developed a theory about how they worked. My theory was color catchers will catch or absorb any color in the wash water, harmful or not. Such as, if your wash water was muddy, the color catcher would come out brown, dull. Not saying that the clothes were still "dirty" but that is what the sheet absorbed. While I think they are a wonderful thing when I wash a completed project, I thought it might be wasteful to use when washing out my hand dyed fabrics. I recently dyed some fabrics and was in the process of washing them out. Perfect time to test my theory.
I wasn’t doing my normal wash out procedure because I was quickly trying to get them ready to show to friends. I had used turquoise, which always takes a long time to rinse out. I wasn’t sure if they had rinsed/washed out enough, but decided to do my white sock test. This is where I throw in a white cotton sock (the one that lost it's mate somewhere a long the way or developed a hole but where still white…) in with the load of dyed fabrics. My thought, is if the white sock comes out of the load white, then the fabrics are done, or at least enough that there is not enough color coming off to damage the white cotton. I had missed the time to show my friends, so I had plenty of time to play. The sock had come out white, so time to test the "Color Cathcers". Yes, the color catcher was a lovely shade greenish turquoise at the end of the load. I would say a medium light shade. One test doesn't make for solid results, but it supported my theory. I will continue to use them when washing a quilt or completed project, but not to test colorfastness.
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