Originally Posted by scifihippie
I made my first quilt this week from my fabric stash (I make children's clothing). All that fabric had been prewashed. I'm about to start on my second quilt and want to use a jelly roll for part of it. I've always prewashed fabric when I made clothing. I'm a bit hesitant to wash this jelly roll b/c I don't want to lose 1/4 inch of it in the wash due to straggly threads. Is it necessary to prewash fabric for quilting?
My motto: "If in doubt, steam it out." My iron can be set to a high steam, so I set the iron to cotton and steam my charm squares and jelly rolls like crazy if I am concerned about shrinking. In this case since you are combining with prewashed fabric, I would press it well. You could even measure before and after to see if there is any change. Most shrinkage comes in lengthwise of fabric anyway so I wouldn't think you would have much problem with jelly rolls.