Do you pre-wash batik when using with regular jelly rolls
 

A friend asked me today if she should pre-wash her batiks that she will be using with a jelly roll made from regular cotton quilt fabric? You can't wash the jelly roll without making a huge mess but she doesn't want uneven shrinkage in her quilt. I didn't know how to answer?

Pati

she should at least check for color fastness in the batiks. I have found that they do have a bit of bleeding and you don't want that bleeding into other fabrics. I had a fabric that I just loved, but after washing it 6 times it was still bleeding really really really bad. it is sitting on a shelf waiting for me to get some dye setter stuff (can't remember the name), I can only imagine what would have happened in the quilt it was destined for if i had put it in.

Is the color fastness Retayne your looking for? I've used that and also Rit has one but I have a hard time getting it. I like to wash because I have had things bleed and make a mess on a rag quilt which was already sewed together. Good luck. Sue

She should definately test for colorfastness on the batik strips. She can do this by wetting a q tip with water and rubbing it across the fabric and see if any colors lift off. The strips could be hand washed gently to see if any of the colors run. I wouldn't get too vigorous with them. I would keep rinsing them until the water is clear. Someone had suggested once that when she washed pre cuts she did it by hand in the sink and then put them into a salad spinner to remove the excess water.

I would not sew on any batiks without checking for bleeding . Run them under warm/hot water .. till they no longer shed any dye. Sometimes I just let them soak in hot water , and then rinse like crazy. I hang dry them.

I read on here that you can even prewash jellyrolls by hand then spin them out using a salad spinner a few at a time. I'm going to try it on a jelly roll sometime in June. I would definitely prewash the batiks in straight hot water and Retayne checking for colorfastness with a color catcher. Another post suggested putting the color catcher in a mesh bag so it can't clog up washer. Especially in front loader. Have fun with your project.

I have read here that you should not prewash pre cuts. Before I read that...I always prewashed ALL my fabric. I was amazed how strips from the same line were different lengths after they were washed. So I will continue to prewash everthing. To each his own. This has worked well for me. BrendaK

I used to prewash EVERYTHING the instant it came thru my front door. I don't wash any of my precuts because I did once & it shrunk like nobody's business.

I use a lot of batik (usually brand name ones), but I don't prewash the precuts. When my quilt is done, I wash it with a few color catchers and have never had a problem. I do prewash the yardage though, also with color catchers. Mostly the color catchers come out with very little color on them - maybe it's due to the quality of the fabric? I generally buy the major brand names. I find that I get more color on them from greens/yellows than I do purples/reds/blues. That surprised me.

I live on the wild side. I only prewash when it is required for an exchange or if I am using white in the quilt.