How do you wash multicoloured clothes?

[LillethTheCat]

I have a new top which I now need to wash.

It is mainly white, but the sleeves are a really dark blue. There is also a design on the front which is dark red and dark blue, but the majority of the top is white. So do I wash it with darks or lights or will it not matter if I use a cool enough wash?

Or what about those colour catcher thingys, do they work?

Thanks

Eagerly awaiting replies as I also am never quite sure what to do...

First wash I do on its own or by hand.

After that I would chuck it in with whatever.

I wouldn't be worried about old stuff leaking on to it, I would oly be worried about it leaking onto other stuff, that is why. I know all my other stuff doesn't leak already.

Actually, what I have done with my latest t-shirt (this white and black stripped top) is wash it with mixed coloured first couple of times (to make sure any of the dark colour in it that was going to run, runs) then stuck it in with the whites. I'd rather the black fades a bit than the white goes grey.

Bung it in at 30 degrees with everything else.

I wash blacks, coloureds, and whites together all the time at 30 degrees, and have never had any problem.

And, it's better for the planet.

I use 30 deg 90% of the time, but still feel happier separating washing.

Colour catchers are marvellous! I don't divide any clothes now and everything goes on a 40 - 50 degree wash. Nothing runs. It's saved so much hassle as DH prefers dark clothes and I tend to wear lighter colours so we've never got a 'full' wash of lights or darks before one of us starts to run out of water able tops!

Colour catchers work great.

Colour catchers are a rip off IMHO.
If you follow the precautions on the box which include,
washing all new items separately 5-6 times,
always washing large dark items such as jeans or towels separately,
taking reasonable care mixing white and coloured items,
then chances are nothing you wash will run anyway without the need for the colour catcher!

The first time I washed my red sofa cover, I put a colour catcher in for interest. Gosh it was red afterwards.

Generally I find that nothing runs after the first two or three times, but if I'm putting a new item of clothing in a load, I'll put a colour catcher in, just in case. Sometimes they come out "stained" when the rest of the washing is untouched, so I feel it's worth it.

And I only end up paying about 89p for a box of 20 (Quality Save) so I don't feel ripped off anyway.

Colour catchers definitely, they have saved many tops and t shirts that have white or light coloured stripes, cuffs etc

Wash it on its own first wash, then with other coloureds with other washes. Dont put it in with whites or with very dark clothes.

Separating laundry does keep whites better - they do go grey and manky if you wash whites with dark stuff.

My mother has a rule of thumb that makes a lot of sense and has never let me down:

if a piece of clothing has any white in it (stripes, etc) it can safely be washed with other colours, as obviously the other colours won't run, if that makes sense?

I usually leave this type of thing at the bottom of the wash basket or hand wash as I can never decide what to put it in with. Must get a box of those colour catchers.

Um, Poppy, I ruined a work dress by that logic (white top half; black bottom half). I've also had colour leech on to white cuffs/collars. And that was at 30 degrees.

Thanks for the replies, so I need to get some colour catchers then. The alternative is to either hand wash or bung it in on its own to begin with. Might hand wash it in a bit then, I can scrub at any marks on it then too.

I would wash it with light colours,, greys and blues NOT yellows/ pinks. If a little runs, it shouldn't affect them. They should be light enough not to run.

That's odd Horry, never happened to me.

But if that happened it wouldn't matter if you washed the dress with whites, as it would've ran anyway?

I do second colour catchers though, they are amazing.

Yes, it would have run with whites and they'd all have been ruined, although this was before I discovered colour catchers and I wonder if that would have caught the leak before it indelibly stained the white parts.

Fucking irritating nonetheless. Very useful work outfit binned.

I would wash it by hand first and see if colour comes out in the water. If it does, I'd continue to hand wash it. If it doesn't, I'd just wash it in the machine with everything else.

I don't separate washing into whites or colours. I just put them all in the machine together, apart from the items that bleed colour, which I hand wash forever and put away at the bottom of the pile in the drawer in the hope that they won't get worn too often.

As it's a white top with coloured sleeves I doubt it will run. I'm hoping manufacturers would have considered the colour fastness of the blue sleeves.

I often wonder this with navy and white stuff.

I usually split my washing. I just don't think that it comes out as good if I mix all the colours and whites, even at 30.
I use a bio powder for whites and a colour wash powder for colours.

What I usually do is split into 3 ish piles - whites, colours and darks. So a navy and white top would go in the colours.

But I am careful with first wash. Eg first wash red top, I will gather a load of red and pink stuff, so if it runs, it doesn't matter.

Colour catchers are great but I'd definitely separate lights and darks. Wash on 30 with a colour catcher mixed. My aunt rips them in half and says they stil work. Our bargain shop has them for 99p