I wasn't washing the strips at all. I know better than to do that! I really didn't explain myself well in the original post. But I was mostly cutting down for my trading group and then washing what was left. I had to cut some down from the 10-12 yard pieces just to fit in the smaller washing machines we have in the basement. The 3 yard cuts were mostly for trading and I didn't was those, they went into a separate pile.