Your idea of test washing is a great one and from a recent personal experience we know that it should be followed. While in Andorra we had a house guest whose predominantly white laundry went into the washer. When his whites came out, they were a brilliant shade of pink. Jan immediately thought that a washable sweater that she had recently purchased at a very fine store was the culprit, but it had not been washed with the now very pink attire. As it turned out we discovered that the washer did not fully empty after each load thus keeping a colorful residue waiting the next load. The culprit was a less expensive red sweater of one of our housemates. We also discovered that the washer had to be cycled again at the end of the wash to remove any leftover water. Test washing ahead would have eliminated the problem.

Tom in Carlisle