Country or region: Iowa, United States

Message: My daughter bought me a colorful purse with fabric flowers from Costa Rica. She was so excited to give it to me and it's beautiful. But I can't use it because it leaves red dye on my pants and even stains my hands. How can I set the dye so it doesn't bleed? Do I use synthrapol?

Synthrapol is just a detergent. It's a good detergent, but any detergent will do, if you wash the purse so that the dye comes out. Hotter water will work better than cool water, for removing unattached dye.

Washing is the best solution, and there's a very good chance it will be sufficient, if you use hot enough water, soak it for a while, and wash it several times if necessary. If only some parts of the purse are red, then you should expect the dye to transfer to the whole purse when you wash it.

There is no very good solution, besides washing, for dye that rubs off when dry. This problem is called crocking, and it's a sign of improper dye application. It can be seen with both natural dyes and synthetic dyes; it's easily avoided by using the proper procedures in applying the dyes.

There is a type of commercial dye fixative, one brand of which is called Retayne, that can be used to improve wetfastness. Retayne and similar products are good for helping to keep most dyes from running while wet, but they do not work to solve dry crocking.

If there are only a few small parts of the purse that are red, then you could try fixing the loose dye in place by painting with an acrylic fabric paint. You could get a matching color of fabric paint, or you could buy some colorless fabric paint extender. Any small particles that are resting on the fabric of the purse when you paint it with the fabric paint should be glued down by the paint's binder. Be sure to heat-set the paint with a hot iron, as instructed by the manufacturer. The paint will alter the way the fabric feels, but a good fabric paint feels much nicer than any non-fabric paint. Look for a thin fabric paint, such as Dye-Na-Flow or Neopaque, at your local crafts store, or order from an online supplier such as Dharma Trading Company, Blick Art Materials or Mister Art.

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