Tiffany

You need to decide if the risks outweigh the benefit of saving a few hours by not washing your fabrics. Me, I am unwilling to work with fabrics that have not been prewashed; not only because I'm allergic to all the chemicals and stuff that they put into the fabric but because I've seen how the fabrics are stretched while at the factory. The last thing I want is to wash a quilt I've spent hundreds of hours on and find that either the dye has run or the quilt has shrunk up in some areas. Now if I'm looking for an antique look that works but usually I don't go for the drawn up, puckered look that you see so often in older quilts.

I have friends that don't prewash and we did a little test. We bought 2 yards of the same fabric, making sure they were cut exactly identical. We washed one of them and it was amazing how different they were in size. Now most of my friends also prewash their fabric. You'll notice I said most. :wink:

I always either cut the corners off my fabric (making a small 45 degree angle to snip off the very corner) or I use pinking shears (rotary cutting blade) to slice off the very edge of the fabric. This will keep the fabric from fraying so much in the washer.

Really it just comes down to what you are willing to live with. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and I feel as if I get a better product (quilt) by prewashing my fabrics. Others will swear it makes no difference and they don't bother to pre-wash. The only thing you need to keep in mind if you don't pre-wash is that there may be people out there that are allergic to the chemicals and you'll need to be careful if you trade fabric with that person or you work on a project with them. Other than that, no worries!
~Tiffany