Prism99

The only thing I would add is that it's a good idea to starch the fabric before ironing, to restore some of the off-the-bolt body. Pre-washed fabric can become limp, and limpness means it will stretch and distort more easily. Starch will stabilize the fabric so it is much less likely to stretch and distort with handling.

AngelinaMaria

Okay, sorry another question that comes up is are you pressing the fabric or ironing?? Since it is such a large piece, many of my pieces for this Christmas project will be 1 to 3 yard pieces, do you "press" or iron? So far, when working with the large pieces like this to get wrinkles and folds out, I do a combination of pressing and gentle ironing.

If you were to truly press a 1 to 3 yard peice (and you have 10 of the same size), it would take hours and hours to complete.

katier825

ditto, except I use color catchers with everything except very light colored fabric. Also, if I washing a few yards of one fabric, I fan fold into about 1 yd size and safety pin the selvedge edge to keep it from becoming a tangled mess.

JanetM

I prewash everything in my laundry room sink. I clip the corners of the fabric, to minimize fraying.

I use hot water, and if I see that the fabric is bleeding, I add Retayne to the water. I then drain the sink and refill it to make sure there is no further bleeding.

Then into the dryer set on normal. Once dry, I iron it and fold it on a fabric board and store it on my stash bookshelves.

dunster

I wash in the washing machine on hot with laundry detergent and dry with heat. I iron gently. I want everything that's going to happen to happen to that fabric before I use it in a quilt. If I think there are problem fabrics then I use a color catcher and wash again if it picks up a lot. I never starch until I'm ready to use the fabric, because then I'll want to press it again anyway, and I don't want it stored with starch in it. Good for you for deciding to pre-wash. You won't regret it, and if you decided not to...well every week or so there are posts from someone who regrets that decision.

MacThayer

OK, well this is my method. I learned it from my mother, who was an awesome seamstress. She believed in pre-washing and drying all fabric to both shrink it and make sure it was color fast. She thought dryers were the world's best invention because they would shrink any fabric that could shrink.

Wash dark colors with dark colors and light colors with light colors; that's pretty basic. Put your small pieces in a mesh lingerie bag. I use large ones. Do not "stuff" the bag. Water needs to flow around the fabric freely. (My mom made "mesh" bags out of garden netting.) This significantly reduces fraying. For large pieces of fabric that will not fit in the bags, sew a tight (short) stitch along all raw edges. This will significantly reduce fraying, and will be cut off when you "square up" the fabric. Any color thread will do; I just use whatever is on my machine. Wash in warm water. Mom figured warm was the hottest she'd ever wash in, and if she used cold, eventually the item would probably end up in a warm water wash, so she needed to know how it would perform in warm water. She also added a cup or more of white vinegar "to set the colors". Obviously a little less with smaller loads. She swore by it, as did Grandma and Great Grandma, and they had learned it from their mothers. My mother and Grandmothers are women from the Depression years who did not believe in waste; I have to believe they used vinegar here for a good reason. I have no statistics on this, but I've always used vinegar and I've never had any color bleed or fade, so there you have it. Maybe someone could enlighten us as to why this works? Mom always used half the amount of detergent she would use for a load that size. She said you really don't need much, just enough to get basically clean fabric clean, and to get the colors running if they're going to run. She also believed in drying the fabric until it was dry, and said the dryer was the best thing for making sure the fabric shrank as much as it was ever going to shrink. If you took it out damp, it still had the potential to shrink some more. So that's what I do. I wish I had her "coke bottle sprinkler" (remember those?), but I don't, so I use the sprayer on the iron, and also some spray starch to add some body back into the fabric. I press more than iron in the sense that I try to be careful not to stretch the fabric as I ironing. So there's more "picking up and putting down" of the iron until it's virtually dry (from the spraying and starch) and then I'll run my iron over it to smooth it.

The only tedious part is the ironing, and that goes pretty well with some upbeat rock in the background!

Gramie bj

Wash, with color catcher, and dry as if it was already sewn into a quilt I do not always iron before folding just smooth out by hand and wind on boards for storage, I always have to press when it cones off the board to be used, and they still look good on the boards with just a hand pressing small pieces go into a sweater zip bag and treated the same way. I do this for color bleading and shrinkage.

Somerset Val

My machine has an express programme which takes 1/2 hour. I wash at 40 degrees, fast spin, then iron straight away using spray starch, on the wrong side. 3 yard pieces are a bit unwieldy but managable! I watch TV at the same time so that the time passes more quickly!

chairjogger

for 1/2 or less yard.. of dark colors for looking to see if fabric bleeds:
Clear bowl, very warm// near hot water and dawn dishsoap. single.. all alone.. and squeeze, squeeze ,ect..

workes to get color water or plain water.

Normal washing is in machine with fabric soap and no softener. But, never really see water .. That is why the clear bowl and a single wash..

good luck !

DebsShelties

I start by stitching a 1/4 inch seam on the raw edges, I use cool water in my machine, with color catchers and 1/2 to 1 cup of white vinegar to set the colors
after washing, I dry high heat till dry.
Yeah they are wrinkled, I fold and put away, ironing when I am ready to use the fabric.