Name: Peggy
Message: I washed a load of new dark clothes and was heartsick to discover that there must have been bleach residue in my washing machine. There are bleach spots over several areas of the articles. Can only the actual spots be dyed or do I need to totally dye the items. The articles are mostly cotton but some are cotton/ polyester blends.

See the FAQ section of my website under "Help! I ruined clothing by spattering bleach. How can I fix it?".

If you dye poly/cotton blends, whether you use a good dye such as Procion MX dye, or the common all-purpose dye found in many grocery stores, the polyester part of the fiber will not dye, only the cotton. This will result in a lighter or heathered effect, which may do little to cover up any bleach spots, unless only the cotton fibers were affected by the bleach.