I'm one of the prewashers you were warned about! No meddling here, though, just my opinion. 100% cotton does shrink. If I am working with yardage (which is most of the time), I wash. If I'm working with smaller pieces (smaller than a FQ) I don't prewash or even soak. I DO however, starch everything before I cut just for stability.

And yes, when you prewash you will normally get tangled edges. I always over buy by at least a 1/2 yard so I have room for cutting errors or other boo boos along the way so having to square up the edge before I start is no big deal to me. Plus I'm more comfortable knowing that I'm closer to being on the straight of grain when I cut and will thus have even more stability with my piecing.

I learned that lesson when I first started quilting about 5 years ago. Now I starch my yardage. But I use Mary Ellens Best Press, no bug attracting things in it, starch attracts bugs.

Moisture makes cotton fabric shrink. Starch contains moisture and can therefore make cotton fabric shrink. This can be used to our advantage, as shown in the following Sharon Schamber videos:

Sharon Schamber's Beginning Quilter : Magical Basting P1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi1RgiLI9GI

Sharon Schamber's Beginning Quilter : Magical Basting P2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmcdOz-ypwU

I have read that starch will shrink your fabric. I have never used starch so can't say from experience. Don't know if it makes a difference if the fabric is prewashed or not. (?)

I have gone back and forth on this issue, and I've decided I'm prewashing everything. I'm just not willing to risk a quilt's worth of hard work to bleeding fabric. I've tried all the methods to prevent fraying, including stitching the raw edges together first (what a hassle, and it still frayed). My conclusion is the good old-fashioned pinking shears are my best bet. And I can instantly tell if a fabric has been washed or not!

It's funny you posted this issue today. Yesterday it was poor Krystyna, who had cut a ton of strips, and watched in horror as they shrank before her eyes. If bad news comes in threes, somebody better watch out. :shock: :shock:

I agree. I have recently found out that pinking the edges before washing works great. Instead of using pinking shears, I bought a pinking blade for my rotary cutter. It goes fairly fast and no fraying!

I am not a quilter but am being drawn more that way. As a quilting novice, when you refer to "starching", are you spray starching or doing the old dip in real starch solution to the fabric?

Well, you can do the old dip and roll method, but I spray. As I said before, I use Mary Ellens Best Press, because my area is very buggy and I don't want bugs eating my fabric.

More info please.
As a new quilter, my question is why do we startch? None of my "teachers" have mentionrd it? and if the fabric has not been washed isn't it stiff already?

Jeepers Kim, I'm awfully glad you posted this topic! I've only recently learned (through th QB!) how handy starch is and your prewarning will save me much grief!