Comment has been edited:
Originally Posted by Prism99
Most fabrics these days don't shrink enough to make a difference.
In my experience of measuring fabrics before and after washing them, some don't shrink at all. Some have shrunk over two inches in width. Some shrink a bit in both directions.
I've had "good" brands shrink, and I've had "other" brands shrink.
I've also had "good" brands not shrink, and I've had "other" brands NOT shrink.
I can't tell ahead of time which fabric will do what.
I am hard pressed to say which brands are "good" - or "not good"
It seems to depend on the piece as much or more than the brand name.
My opinion about one brand name/line got deleted, so I won't name any names in this post.
I've had to list a lot of my washed fabrics as 34 - 35.5 inches in my classifieds - and I KNOW I purchased at least a yard of them!
But what "makes a difference" to one person, really may not even be discernible to another.
Those of us that think washing before cutting will continue to do so -
those of us that think it's unnecessary will continue to not do so.