How do you keep fabric from raveling?
 

I've been making table runners and everytime I prewash fabric, I have a terrible mess from raveling and I lose yardage because of this.
I know some of you wonderful quilters must have a had this happen at some point and can share your solutions.

I cut a small triangle off at all the selvedge edges. Seems to do the trick.

I serge the cut edges.

I always serge the raw edges before I wash

I also serge the edges before washing.

I don't prewash so don't have raveling problems. :)

It's not necessary (unless maybe if you have allergies) to wash fabric in the washing machine. You can simply soak it in a sink, press out excess water between towels, and hang to dry. It is the agitation of the washing machine and the tumbling of the dryer that cause uncontained fabric edges to ravel.

I always over-buy by as much as 1/4 to 1/2 yard just to compensate for any booboos I might make. This also compensates for the raveling problem. I just clip the big bunches as I'm ironing and don't let it get to me. 'Cost of doing business' as it were.

I don't have a serger, wish I did. As for not washing, I know this is an age old contraversy, but I made placemats for a friend and she's always telling me she has to iron them after she washes them because I didn't prewash.

I think, particularly for tablerunners/placemats it's a matter of the BATTING shrinking vs pre-washing the fabric. Unless it's 100% poly, it's going to shrink. More so, in my opinion, than the fabric is going to shrink. If you're using cotton batting, depending on if there is a scrim, you may be able to pre-shrink it, if that is your preference. I generally don't do the runners/placemats. I also have a roll of W&N batting that I use for my quilts because I LIKE the crinkly look in my quilts. But I still pre-wash my quilting fabrics. Probably a leftover from garment sewing decades ago, but also works for those funky/over-dyed fabrics that I seem to like for quilting.

Pink the edges. You can purchase pinking blades for your rotary cutter.