I am very religious about pre washing my fabrics. When I started quilting that was what I was taught but now more people are not pre washing thier fabrics at all.

I wash mine before using them or putting them into my stash. In classes I cough and sneeze if I sit close to someone who hasn't washed their fabric.

So do you pre wash or not? If not may I ask why? One reason I hear is because unwashed fabric feels nicer to some folks. my reason is that I put alot of money and effort into my projects and sure would not want unwashed fabric to impact it down the line.

I always prewash - especially strong colors like reds and dark blues and greens. I don't want bleeding after all the work of piecing a top! And if the fabric was a real deal, or a batik, for sure it goes in the wash first.

I just started buying Thimbleberries fabrics and they came with a note that they are made not to bleed, so prewashing is not necessary. Not even recommended!

I am going to leave them unwashed and see what happens.

I'm a prewasher. It shrinks the fabric so you don't experience uneven shrinking later. Takes care of excess dye that you don't want elsewhere.

And if you like the stiffness of new fabric, you can always starch it.

I prewash as I do have allergies and there are a lot of chemicals in fabric. As a matter of fact, it is one big chemical bath from start to finish. Marge

I don't prewash. I like how well unwashed fabrics work. I also really like the "shrunk, old fashioned" look of my quilts after I wash them when done. I use cotton batting and it all kinda shrinks together and I like the look. I wash everything before it goes out the door and I use color catchers. Have not had an issure with colors runnin at all. Then again I don't use many dark reds. I will, however, wash all my flannels before using as they have such different shrinkage rates and shrink a lot more than "normal" fabrics. I tend to buy only the better quality (LQS) quilt fabrics, had several issues in the past with the cheaper fabrics and don't wish to repeat that. I am fortunate as the starches in the fabrics do not bother me.

Echoes, I just love your quilt shown in the photo. Where did you get the pattern?

No, I don't always wash my fabrics before cutting. When going to class I usually do if instructed to do so.

NW Gal

NW Gal, you must be new, this was your first post. Just wanted to welcome you to the board. You can start an "Introduce Yourself" thread and let us know a little about you.

I don't usually prewash. I didn't know you were supposed to at first and didn't have any problems (so far) and so I just don't. I do prewash fatbacks to get some of the wrinkling out before I sandwich and quilt. Like Jim's Gem says, I do wash my quilts before I gift them.

I prewash with color catchers. I have a pink quilt to show for not prewashing. I want to know exactly what I will end up with not what the manufacturer has put in it.

Sometimes I do , Sometimes I don't. I buy it so its up to me. I have had no problems either way. :wink: