Seeing Red Again - But Now a Solution!

I'm going to do a couple of quilts for my friend and neighbor Anna.  The fabric she bought includes about 3 meters of bright red homespun (muslin).  I advised her to wash all the fabric before giving it to me to work on - washing as she would intend to wash the quilts. And I cautioned her to was the red separately, with something white to check the red for bleeding.

Well, it was a good thing she did it, because the red did bleed a little.

She said she felt it would be OK washed in cold, but I was very worried - as that quilt is going to her grandson. His mum could certainly be counted on to wash it in cold, but eventually he'll grow up, move out, and do his own laundry. If he loves the quilt as much as Anna thinks he will, well, tragedy looms in the future, yes?

So I did some research and found a product online which is supposed to stabilize dyes such as that in the cotton we bought.  It arrived, I tried it and.... YES!  IT WORKS!

I bought it online. It wasn't terribly expensive, and I didn't need to use much
for the fabric.  I washed the fabric with it and then washed it one more time
with a "sacrificial white facecloth". The facecloth is still white - a miracle!

And here's the online retailer I purchased it from:

http://www.ozquilts.com.au