Thank you all for the wonderful tips! :) I spend so much time cutting the frayed ends that I end up frustrated...thinking that the material HAS to be pre-washed and no other way to do it! I even own a pair of pinking shears that my mother gave me before she passed away last year, and wondered what to do with them. (I am fairly 'unlearned' in quilting...teaching myself, with the help of this wonderful site!)