I know how miserable you are. My hands don't burn, but unwashed fabric 'excites' my eye and sinus allergies to the 'miserable' setting on the allergy meter!
I've just gone through the arduous task of 'sanitizing' with a stash I purchased on Craigslist. It was from the home of a smoker, and, while the odor was not terrible, cigarette odor can move the allergy meter to the 'OH MY GOD what have I done to deserve this level".
What I found works well:
1) no more than 10 - 12 yards in a load. For me, that was about 4 - 6 pieces. It's hard to resist adding more, but 10 - 12 yards in the washer gave me the best results.
2) Gentle cycle
3) cold water wash, using laundry detergent (I always use an unscented one)
4) Open the fabric to it's full WOF - never leave the fabric folded.
Washing and drying fabric folded in wof will SET the fold permanently. (I know because I've made that
mistake.)
5) I found the best average length of a single fabric to wash was 2.5 yard.
You can go up to 3, but after that the fabrics twist around each other very tightly in the washer and ravels more as a result. Put some shorter lengths in with the longer lengths so that the washer doesn't get unbalanced during the spin.
There was some very long yardage in the stash I bought, so in some cases it was cut into 3 or 4 pieces.
6) use color catchers, sometimes 2, depending on the colors in the load you are washing. Of course, wash similar colors together.
7) Remove each piece of fabric from the washer individually. Keep a scissor handy to cut off the ravels as you remove the fabric from the washer. Keep in mind that no matter what you do, there will be some tangling and raveling of threads.
8) Shake each piece of fabric out to it's full length and width, then put it in the dryer. You don't want the fabrics to 'ball up' in the dryer, because then the outside fabric is dry, but the center of the ball of fabric is not. It is also unbelievably wrinkled. Ugh!
9) Take each piece of fabric out of the dryer individually, measure it's length, fold as flat as possible.
- Have some selvage or thin strips of fabric ready to 'tie' the fabric immediately after folding.
- Use two address labels, back to back, one address label on each side of the 'tie"; write down the length of the fabric on one side of the address label. Then you will know how long it is when you are auditioning fabric for a quilt. You won't have to open it to measure it because you already know the length.
10) Store fabric. Iron when you are ready to use it.
Good luck.
Last edited by cathyvv; 03-07-2014 at 11:25 AM.