My lovely old New England farmhouse is now infested with the Field Cockroach, which is native to Southwest - TX AZ CA areas in particular. they are little brown things which don't mind the light and fly around everywhere.

They like to live outside, I have been told, but of course our house is not air conditioned except by opening windows and doors LOL so it is very like the outside inside.

The bug lady suggested they might have hopped a flight on some fabric I bought recently, as the first sighting was shortly after arrival of the fabric, and it was in my sewing room which is far from food, pets, plants and other live stuff and the windows don't open in there as we haven't put the screens in yet. At least two batches of fabric came from two separate shops in Texas.

So now I'm thinking, here's another good reason to PRE-WASH which of course I had just stopped doing, with great success LOL but the stuff I bought is all fat quarters. And of course I took it out of the plastic so it could 'breathe'.

Has anybody ever heard of this? UGH.
:) :) :)

oh no that is terrible, hope you get rid of the bugs

Gross, I hate bugs but I hate them more in my fabric. I have never heard of this happening and I'm sorry it happened to you. Has it spread to other fabric or into the rest of your house?

In another board I belong to, a woman who works in shipping was talking about how she ALWAYS pre-washes due to rat feces found on the ships.

For me, there are too many pros and not enough cons to NOT prewash.

although you will never get state legislators to admit it, i think sometimes that the roach is really the State Bird in a lot of places south of the Mason Dixon line.

an invasion doesn't necessarily mean you are condemned to an infestation.

wash and dry your fats using the delicate cycles of both machines. warm to hot water. usual laundry detergent. they will be fine.

grab a few cans of Raid from the store. spray those little suckers when you see them. treat your cabinets in particular.

if you are very, very concerned, one treatment by a professional exterminator should solve the problem.

i would also recommend you make a call to the merchant's customer service department. the truth is, the little buggers could have hitched a ride anywhere along the shipment route. however, the merchant will appreciate the warning to check their stockroom(s).

I live in California. I read all of the posts on the reasons why some prewash and others don't. I have NEVER had any bugs in my fabrics. I buy from lots of shop hops around the state and from shops from here to Texas and back. I also order a lot online. And the only time I wash my fabric is when it has an odor. I guess I am one of the lucky ones.

I've never had any problem either and I travel a lot and bring fabric back from all over, as well as being a strong supporter of my LQS. :lol:

I do prewash but not until I want to use it because I am just not motivated to wash it until then so this sort of thing could happen to me. I think it would only take once to make me be a LOT more careful.

Good luck with running the little critters out.

I am so sorry to hear this. Good luck with your extermination process, hope it goes easy!

I know this will not help but look on the bright side....it could have been bed bugs. At least cockroaches can be exterminated easier than bed bugs and they won't be biting you at night. Gives me the creeps just thinking about it!

when I lived in the south... it didnt matter if it was AC or not... those field roachs were in EVERY dark place in my house! and YES they do fly around!

I dont know how they got into your house, but they are easier to get rid of than some other pests.

GOOD LUCK!!!