How to Remove Fabric Bleeding Stains From Clothing

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Things You'll Need

  • Liquid bleach

  • Water

  • Clothing color remover or stripper

  • Synthrapol (optional)

Unfortunately, some articles of new clothing do not receive proper dye setting and may bleed onto your skin or other clothing. Bleeding dyes can ruin the bleeding garment as well as other garments washed in the same load of laundry. Some bleeding stains require professional dry-cleaning services for removal, others cannot be removed at all, while others are easy to remove with at-home remedies.

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Step 1

Examine articles of clothing immediately after washing and before placing the items in the clothes dryer. Set all stained clothing aside to relaunder.

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Step 2

Wash the stained items again in cold water to remove the stains. Do not use hot water, as hot water has a tendency to set stains into fabrics.

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Step 3

Examine the articles of clothing again after laundering. If some of the dye has faded, place the articles back in the washer and continue to launder the items repeatedly in cold water until you remove all or most of the dye stain.

Step 4

Remove dye-bleed stains from light-colored clothing using color-safe bleach; remove dye-bleed stains from white clothing using regular liquid bleach. Fill the washer with cold water and add 1 cup of bleach. Place the clothing item in the washer once the bleach dilutes in the water.

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Step 5

Launder the clothing item once again. Check the item, and repeat washing as many times as necessary to remove all or most of the bleeding dye.

Step 6

Wash white clothing affected by dye transfer with a fabric color stripper by following the instructions provided with the color-removing product.

Tip

Prevent future dye transfer stains by closely examining clothing labels and washing new clothing alone.

Use dye fixatives to set the dyes in new clothing and prevent bleeding from ever occurring.

You may also try a product called Synthrapol that bonds with loose dyes to remove the loose, unset dyes from clothing.

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