Originally Posted by Miss Mona
I do not prewash, especially fat quarters. I am in the process of making a quilt. Most of the solid pieces were fat quarters and the background was $5.00 white muslin. I piece my pattern and then quilt the block and finally put it together. While I was piecing a particular block with dark blue (my quilt is all white with various blues as the pattern) some of the blue dye stained my fingers.
I knew I had to get the blocks washed before it was put together so the blue would not fade to the white.. I zigzagged the edges and soaked all the blocks in my tub with lots of vinegar, agitated on delicates and then rewashed to get the vinegar out. I then put in dryer on delicate. I had no place to lay them out, had 72 blocks, so did dry completely.
Then I measured. The blocks were 12 1/2" when they went in and some were as small as 11 1/2" when they came out. I got out some spray starch and ironed and ironed and got most of them back to a 12" size.
Would this make be prewash from now on. No. Even with this problem, I can work around it.
What you just stated is precisely WHY I prewash my fabrics.
I kind of think not pre-washing fabrics before cutting them is a lot like not using one's seat belts.
Most of the time there will not be an issue.
Or like having unprotected sex with a stranger.
Or not washing your dishes after the dog licks them off before putting them back in the cupboard.
It just seems so much simpler and easier to avoid the hassle ahead of time ("a stitch in time saves nine" sort of thing) than to try to fix it later.
For me, it's a case of spending maybe 1/2 an hour preparing the fabrics for a quilt, and avoiding HOURS of trying to "make do".
But - it is your choice to wash or not wash your fabrics before cutting.