How to Stop Material from Raveling
 

Is there any way to keep this from happening. I do not wash my material before cutting because the one time I did this I had treads tangled everywhere. I steam my material when I press before I start cutting. But as I work, making my blocks, my material ravels none stop. Any suggestions? All these threads everywhere drive me crazy. :( I am continually snipping. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

before washing - fold - put cut ends together and sew a quick scant seam. Once washed and dried...just cut away the sewn end. wastes less than an inch of fabric....but NO raveling !!! worth it i think because it takes less time to run that seam that to untangle and clip.

So, I started to reply to this joking that I think you mean unraveling, because if fabric would ravel, then life would be a hell of a lot easier!!!

But then I looked up raveling in the dictionary, and it turns out that a raveling is the name for the thread that unravels off the fabric! In other words, "My fabric unraveled in the dryer, and I had to pull dozens of ravelings out of the lint trap". You learn something new every day, I guess! ;)

Penni F thank you for your wonderful suggestions. I like it and I am going to try it.

I just cut the threads off and go on.

I always cut a triangle off of each corner and it helps. You can serge it on your serger too, or use pinking shears on the edges.

I got a tip on this forum. Wash fabric on delicate for the shortest period. There is no reason to go through a regular wash since all you are trying to do is eliminate pesticides, check for color run and shrink your fabric. I do a 6 min. delicate cycle and it's just fine. Minimal strings. I sometimes have stringy stuff with the unwashed, but I just deal with it. It will stop when you wash it.

If it's raveling when you're working with it, prewashed or not, it's because you haven't cut it on the straight of grain. Work on your cutting accuracy to end the fraying.

Are you scissors/rotaty cutter sharp? When my fabric ravels I change blades and that seems to take care of it.

Some fabrics just ravel more than others. There really isn't anything you can do about it. I don't pre-wash either.