Originally Posted by BMP
I just read this on the Quilters World Magazine Facebook page ....Tip: Pre-washing fabrics before piecing a quilt top can make accurate blocks more difficult; unwashed fabric contains stiffeners that make piecing easier. Instead of pre-washing to reduce the chance of dye bleeding, just steam iron the fabrics instead. This will help to set the colors, while leaving the fabric stiffer and easier to work with.
This is 1 magazine I do sub too and enjoy.
If you starch after washing you get the same effect as the stiffeners in the unwashed fabric.
I have read many things about this all of which makes me wash all my fabric before I use it.
1. The stiffeners can cause allergy reactions.
2. All fabric is stored in warehouses at some point, sometimes several. I have been in many types of warehouses, the majority use fork lifts, and have diesel truck back up to loading docks which exude exhaust into the warehouse, I am pretty sure that gets in the air along with all the dust being blown around. This then settles on the fabric.
3. Many fabrics come from overseas and they use chemicals, for pesticides, which would never ever be used in the USA, I don't want to breath that in nor be handling any of it.
4. Last but not least, I don't want to go to all the trouble of making a quilt, just to have one fabric shrink more that the other, making my quilt pucker in weird places and look like junk. (which happened to me before I started prewashing everything)
Those seem like very sound reasons to me.
As I was not appointed as Quilt Police, I think you should do what works the best for you to have an enjoyable quilting expierence, because that is what this is all about.