I was like a kid in a candy shop. I went to a quilt shop to sign up for an applique class. I bought all of my supplies and fabric while I was there. I got my fabric home, unfolded it and started looking at the patterns and thread, trying to use my window templates to figure out placement to fussy cut leaves, looking at the texture, etc...very shortly after unfolding the fabric my eyes got watery and I got a runny nose. I didn't think much of this, thought maybe I was getting a cold. I took my fabric to the wash room to prewash, partically dry and press as my quilt shop suggested. When I started laying out my fabric to start cutting pieces, no watery eyes or runny nose. The next time I bought fabric and got it home, started looking at it, the same thing happened, watery eyes and a runny nose. When I went to my first applique class at the same quilt shop I secretly went around, I know this sounds silly, but I secretly went around the shop sniffing the fabric. Again, I got watery eyes and a runny nose. I'm a crazy lady about smells and odors. I don't have pets and no one in my house smokes and I can usually pick up on a persons clothing, if I get close to them, that they have pets or someone smokes. I didn't smell any of these odors at the quilt shop. It was clean and very tidy. It had to be the fabric. I went to Joann's and the same thing happened. Wow! I love my applique class and I hope prewashing my fabric stops all of these symptoms. The ladies in the class are so friendly and nice. When the ladies at the quilt shop suggested I prewash, I thought, well, ok, maybe. I will most definitely prewash from now on...I wonder exactly what is on/in that fabric for this to happen to me. What are we all breathing in when we work with fabric??