Has anyone tried using dye fixatives on clothing to prevent staining? Or using old washed fabric?

I’ve been wondering if people have tried to prevent stains by getting the excess dye out first 

Most collectors I know will soak clothing in plain cold water, or cold water + Oxiclean, to try and remove any excess dye before dressing a doll. It's shocking how much dye comes out sometimes!

Stealth edit: it does seem to help prevent staining, or at least reduce the risk of staining, but YMMV.

Edited June 13, 2022 by lmnprty

Hello! I have a weird obsession with cleaning doll clothes. Even if they are in storage, after a couple of months, I will throw them in a tub full of cold water, a squirt of dish soap, a little vinegar, and a little salt. They soak for about an hour. When I remove them from the tub, the water is always brown. (gag) I also sort by lights and darks like human laundry. I have a lot of doll clothes...

The soap is to clean the clothing. The vinegar and salt help prevent the colors from bleeding, and help the fabrics become more colorfast (and less likely to stain the doll).

I tend to wash all doll clothing (Barbie, vinyl, BJD) before putting it on a doll for the first time. I've noticed that darker doll clothing for vinyl dolls/BJDs has a tendency to leach onto the dolls and stain them. It's almost as if they dye the fabric but don't rinse it before making clothing. This is especially true of Taobao sellers. 

29 minutes ago, MaleficentMrsofEvil said:

The vinegar and salt help prevent the colors from bleeding, and help the fabrics become more colorfast (and less likely to stain the doll).

This is a myth, and is proven to not do anything.  You cannot re-bind dye to fibers after the initial commercial dying process.  You're just washing out the loose dye.

29 minutes ago, MaleficentMrsofEvil said:

It's almost as if they dye the fabric but don't rinse it before making clothing.

This is true.  Most fabrics are dyed and then are meant to be washed before or just after the manufacturing process, but aren't.  This is why if you ever buy fabric for making your own pieces, it is recommended to wash your fabric before you cut.  Dark fabrics are sometimes heavily over-dyed to give a very rich colour, but it means that there is a lot of loose dye that was not bound to the fabric fibers that will wash out.  You cannot prevent this dye from escaping, be it in the wash or onto your dolls.  Just be careful when washing coloured pieces that have things like white trim— sometimes washing the dark part will cause the white/light parts to be lightly dyed by the wash water.

The tights Chihaya is wearing in the photo I submitted for the banner used to stain:

I soaked them in warm water, Oxiclean, and baking soda in a container 4+ times overnight each time. Even by the last round the water was still turning colour a little bit, but they haven't stained her yet. She's worn them twice now for longer periods and during travel. They did obviously fade a bit over the process, just a heads up.