I was somewhat an agnostic on this topic until I had a completed quilt almost ruined by some red blocks than ran when I washed it. This I-spy quilt was made for my grand niece, and I had the I-spy squares grouped by color, so there was a large nine-patch (with a center white) square, composed of red novelty fabrics, and surrounded by white sashing. This quilt was intended to be used and washed, so I washed it before sending it off as a gift. The red apply fabric ran badly when I washed it. With rewashing with massive sheets of color catchers (and some tide bleach stick applied to the white stitching, most of the bleed was removed.
Now I prewash everything as soon as the fabric walks in the door (other than charm packs, layer cakes or jelly rolls. I do prewash fat quarters).
This was the nine-patch at risk, after successful treatment, and there is still some pink tone in the middle square. I really panicked when I first saw the bleed, as I had paid my long-armer $200 or so for the quilting, and spent hours putting the quilt together. The parents of the niece are sort of "high fashion" people, so I couldn't give them a quilt that had this kind of bleeding on it. So happy when my rewashing fixed it.
Thanks for sharing your story and experience. I "tend" toward not prewashing but red and other dark colors can be risky.
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