sewbeadit

I never prewash my fabrics, well maybe not ever. This time I had some large scraps that were sent to me in a scrap swap and I wanted to use them, but they had me questioning if I should pre wash them or not, as they seemed to be heavy in dye. The one piece was blue and very pretty and seemed to be an artist hand dyed fabric and was very stiff. I thought for sure it would bleed. Then the other was about a 12" square batik that was a very dark purple and was stiff as well. So I put them in hot soapy water in a bowl. As soon as the purple one hit the water it was bleeding bright pink dye! It bled and bled, I even put a color catcher in the bowl and let it sit over night. The color catcher was bright pink and so was the water, I took them out threw out the color catcher and redid the hot water on the fabric and the fabric came out clear. So I am using it. The blue hand dyed looking piece never bled a bit. So weird.

So just to say that you never know till you check them out if you should pre wash. All of my batiks will be checked before using! I know there is always a lot of discussion about prewashing or not and thought someone may be interested in this little experiment!

ctrysass2012

Interesting. I guess I better wash all the dark batiks for the wedding quilt for my niece. Thank you. I normally do not prewash my fabric either.

DOTTYMO

It's great if you have the time. I recently started a quilt at classes in a quilt shop. I purchased fabric at time of class, due to travelling distance. No time to wash so can't always wash which I do like to do. It is always amazing to me which fabrics run . I find purple and reds usually run.

Buckeye Rose

I find solids run more than prints, and almost always reds/purples/blacks....I prewash any intense colors by themselves and group the rest of the fabrics by color....but always prewash...I refuse to take any chances on ruining a quilt that has taken my time and effort to complete.

Misty's Mom

I always prewash too. Not only to check the color, but to remove odors, sizing, etc that comes on it. New fabric stops in the laundry room, gets washed, then on to be pressed, folded and put away. Was hard getting into this routine, but worth it. Before we started this, my DILs hands started itching, peeling and really hurting. Now, no problem.

tessagin

I prewash because of instances I've come across, odor, dye and origin (previous owner). I have mentioned before seeing people wiping their perspiration from their bodies, head neck and faces and underarms in the big box stores. Do you really want to use that fabric when you make that new baby quilt without prewashing?

maryb119

I prewash everything. It's just me, but I don't want any surprises after I have gone to all the work (enjoying every minute of it) to make a quilt only to have it ruined with the first washing.

ghostrider

I always prewash, mostly to get rid of all the chemicals and other contaminants picked up in transit, but also to preshrink and remove excess dyes. I never bother with color catchers since I only prewash like colors in the same batch and the water clarity or a gentle rub test will tell me when any bleeding stops.

GingerK

I pre-RINSE--no soap but in water as hot as I can tolerate. I find that takes care of bleeding colours and limits the shrinkage. It also gets rid of a lot of the sizing in the fabrics. Anything under a yard is done in my bathroom sink and then gets thrown into the washer for a quick spin to get rid of excess water, and then into the dryer.

Sewnoma

Oh geckh! I've never seen that, and I guess I haven't seen you post that, because I've never thought about that. I'm a pre-washer anyway, but...yuck. I think I'm going to pretend I never saw that. LOL