Thread: Question on Rayon/Cotton blend fabric

I am not sure, but don't the blends like that stretch a little? I just bought some rayon only fabric at a quilt store to make into a blouse they said that I needed to wash the material first in warm water because it will shrink. I know cotton shrinks, but my thought is "do they shrink at the same rate?" This means you would have to wash the cotton fabric, too, before you started the quilt.

I would overcast the raw edges - wash it - and see how it behaves.

Take a square and pink the edges. Trace around it with a pencil on a piece of paper. Hand wash your square and iron it dry. Check to see if it is still the same size as the tracing. If it has behaved well then you can use it. It will not fade at the same rate as your cotton fabrics though.

Rayon is not a very strong fiber and does shrink quite a bit as well as ravels more than regular quilting cottons. Since its a blend there will be some of the issues as if it was 100 percent rayon. Do preshrink is the pieces are large enough. As for the raveling , I don't recommend pinking the edges. Use a wider seam allowance through out the project.

Wash a swatch of it first. My experience with rayon is that it shrinks initially but is quite stable after that. I never preshrink 100% cotton. I would not hesitate to mix fabric types and think your rayon/cotton blends would be lovely in a crazy quilt. froggyintexas

I bought a rayon cotton blend top a few weeks ago. I followed instructions and machine washed on cold and hung to dry. It shrank UP 4" and not at all in the width. (It was expensive too: lesson learned.) It also had an odd feel when wet. I'd be very concerned about shrinkage.

I have had cotton/rayon blend in clothing. It will shrink in the wash initially, but not after the first wash/dry. I would zigzag your edges and wash/dry all of it before even thinking about cutting it.....get the shrink out of the way. When pressing, don't use a real hot iron. If it seems to be a fabric that ravels more than most, use a pinking blade. There are lots of beautiful fabrics out there, just begging to be used in a quilt. Some just require a bit more preparation than others. Don't let the quilt police stop you!