mistakes I've made
 

I have been quilting for many years and I made a dumb mistake. A friend asked me to make a quilt for her new grandchild due in January. She brought nice fabric at a good quilt shop. After I cut all the pieces, I remembered that I should have washed the fabric first. I put the quilt together and it looked fine and for some strange reason I decided to wash the top and back before quiliting. I used a gentel cycle. What a mistake. There was so much lint that I thought the seams would not hold. I checked all the seams and they looked fine but it upset me, hoping that it will hold up after I machine quilt it. When I quilt it I plan to do some extra quilting at all the seams to insure that it holds together. I know I will never make that mistake again.

I did that too. It was quite a lesson to learn. I had to repair two seams. Ugh! Glad your seams all held up! :)

And glad it didn't bleed. I embroidered a table topper and had little blue dots on it for quilting, was supposed to wash out. I had something spilled on a corner (coffee I think) so I washed it to make sure the coffee didn't stain it, since I didn't want to do all that work for a stained end result. You guessed it. The stain came out,but so did some of the little blue dots LOL

It is for this very reason that I dont wash until after all quilting has been done. My favourite mistake is either getting a peice of fabric or even a whole block up-side down and only realising it after everything is so advanced that it would take forever to correct.

My daughter did that once and it raveled out a lot! It was a good quality heavier fabric. She learned not to do it again too. Each day we learn something new.

I have never been able to get those blue dots out.

I did that same dumb thing. Washed the quilt top before sandwiching and quilting. What a mess! Alll seams had to be pressed again--took me hours! Lesson learned!

Does nobody in America line dry fabric. I always wash first but if I had a situation like this I would gentle wash in the laundry tub then hang on the line. I know a lot of you ladies get snow and other bad weather but surely everyone has some fine weather.
I know I'm lucky where I live because we get lots of sunshine (Queensland is known as the Sunshine State) but I haven't owned a dryer in almost 20 years. The only fabric that gets washed in the washing machine is muslin in multiple meters. Every thing else is hand washed, squeezed gently then line dried. After it's dry it is folded or put on boards. I don't iron until I'm ready to use fabric.

When I read the original post I cringed.......of course you got all that lint.....all those open raw edges just got beaten up with the agitator of the w/m.......then thrown into a hot dryer and again thrown around and around......if it had been sandwiched, quilted, bound and then washed (why) it would have been contained and viola not a thread to be found. If I did "wash" my fab (and I have when doing a tablerunner, placemat-so not crinkly look after use/wash)....I just put into a plastic "dishpan" from the dollar store and soak for a few minutes...then hand wring gently and hang on my outside line-(good weather) or in laurndy room where I do have a retractable clothes line...but I am from the "really old school" BTW when I do suspect a fab might run/bleed, I clip a piece before I even start to cut, put into cup/glass of really hot water and if it's going to bleed....it will do it there.......then I just don't use that fab....My reasoning on this is: if I give the piece as a gift the receiver will not remember to use whatever chem is needed to control the bleed and thus will make a "mess" of my gift....if it is mine, I really don't want to be bothered fussing with catchers or whatever when I do wash whatever it is.......Did our quilt/centors do any of this? I wonder how many of their quilts bled when they were washed...and didn't they use homemade soap made of lye? Just wondering..........as an aside: no one in family/friends have "allergies"......

But i need to wash mine, I smoked while making one of my tops, no longer smoke in house, but top has been stored while making another, and it stinks, I need to wash it before even finishing it, would hand washing be alright, no line or deck railing to lay out on but could lay it out on laundry machines and far as pressing, thats what I get for smoking it up.

I wouldn't, for all the reasons above.
with out a line or deck rail to hang it on for a few days, you could try putting it a dryer, fluff only, no heat, along with a clean wet towel. It will probably take several times with a clean damp towel but it will eventually take the smell out.

Or you could fold loosely and sprinkle a full box of baking soda all through it then bag or box tightly. shake the box ever so often. It will probably make it so you can work on it, then a proper wash when you've gotten it quilted. Good luck!

A response to the Aussie who wondered if nobody line dries anymore:

I try to, when I can. I love the way the laundry smells when it's been line-dried. However, I've lived in places where it wasn't allowed, mostly because of HOA (homeowner's association) rules. I HATE HOA rules. Years ago we lived in a place where we weren't even allowed to hang Christmas lights. After that I told my husband I NEVER wanted to live anywhere where I was told what I could and could not do with my property.

I made a log cabin quilt for donation to our local VA. It was completely finished & ready for delivery but I had not photographed it yet. Yep, on photo op, one corner block was totally the wrong way. Why did I or the longarmer not see this? Who knows but I donated it anyway. Hopefully, the Veteran who received it will not hold my mistakes against me. All we can do is laugh, learn & move on.

To get smoke out of a quilt, if you lay it outside for 3 days, the smoke smell will disappear. I suppose the same will happen if you put it in a garage or open it up and put it in a non smoking room in your house that has one of those sprayers that goes off every so many minutes.

Well I am in Canada and cannot speak to what people in the USA do. One of the features that had us buying the house we have lived in for the past 15 years was the clothes line. I can use it about 7 months of the year. It is too damp from about now through March, there is no way towels could dry.. But on a sunny winter day I will at least hang my pillow cases even if I have to iron them dry.

But three neighbours have removed their clothes lines.

There was a court challenge in Ontario a few years ago against HOAs that banned clothes lines. Those that wanted clothes lines won for environmental reasons.

I do use the washing machine for all my laundry.

Peckish-I am now in that situation. I hate being told what to do-especially at my age. Duh!!-I AM NOT A CHILD - at 67 I feel that I am adult enough-most of the time anyway-to make fairly reasonable decisions.

As for the line dry or as Aussies say the Hills Hoist-I really, really miss it. My sheets are not as crisp and don't smell as good. The only time I used the dryer was during the fires in Victoria. Too smokey.

Our HOA does not allow line outside and we have one of those 'buy the rules' types here. He even hates the that the deer dare to trespass and eat his bushes. LOL

There are no fences between three of our homes here in this little town (pop 450) and there is a big field to my West and is the back property of one of the neighbors. She has a clothes line there and since she no longer uses it, (for physical reasons) she lets me use it. When weather is nice I use it a lot, but right now the northwest is a bit wet .../The boys complain the towels are stiff, but I don't care. LOL

Haven't made that one ! But made a good one. I made a baby top than decided to put FLANNEL on the back didn't pre-wash, sandwiched and quilted than I washed IT! Well the flennel shrank 5% like it always dose the first washing the top diden't What a sight !:(

This is what I was thinking too. I love fresh smelling sheets. I haven't seen one anywhere around where I live either. What is really funny is I said when I was a kid I would NEVER hang another piece of clothing on the line. I had to for 5 kids and sheets for my grandparents rental cabins. All year long winter and summer. Now I wish there were somewhere I could at least hang my sheets. Don't think I would want to go back to the wringer washer and line though on a regular basis. LOL

I have always made it a habit to wash fabric before cutting, with the exception of pre-cuts. I wait until the quilting and binding are done before the first wash. I agree with those that suggested hand washing the top and backing and then line drying as it will avoid any dramatic shrinkage and unraveling. If the top and backing must be machine dried (for those in colder climates), I would suggest sewing a seam as close to the edge as possible before washing and machine drying to help minimize unraveling.

I would love to have an outside clothes line, I grew up with one, I had one until... you guessed! it I moved into the condo lifestyle. So many single family communities don't allow them, especially on Sunday's. I did read an article many months ago where people were working to bring it back into vogue, using the arguement it is better for the environment.
I will cheat and throw my bathroom rugs outside over the fencing to dry, haven't heard any complaints...yet.