Seconding Aashley, before I found the wonder of mesh lingerie bags, I used pillow cases to wash my delicates back when I wore lacy things without a lot of structure
Both are great for fabric pieces. I have long hair and elastic hair bands, those work just great through the wash and dry to keep the pillow case closed.
Lingerie bags come in various sizes and different weights of fabrics from loose open weaves to tighter. Can even find smaller ones in the Dollar Store some times. They help greatly when washing small scraps without all the tangles. When I find/buy a bag of small scraps at the thrift store, I still wash them and consider that if they are "too small to wash/too small to keep". You can dump that whole bag in the wash and come out with a terrible lump you have to fight with, or you can break it down into 6 or so lingerie bags and life is a whole lot easier.
Before I wash I do sort and maybe do some trimming of pieces, as well as culling out the things I'm not going to bother with. After washing and before drying, I cut off any snarls or snags of fabric and then give it a nice Snap! to help set the grain. You know the sound when you hear it... I do this for the pieces in the bags before going in the dryer as well as the loose pieces.
I really don't like ironing, and I find I have a tolerance for dealing with maybe 6 yards of fabric at a time. Mostly I try to include my fabric washes along with like colors regular laundry because I do want that agitation and such.