Deb watkins

I seldom pre-washed in my 'earlier' quilting days. However, with making the NICU quilts, prewashing is a must, and I host and participate in several swaps - prewashing is a must, and I find that I am beginning to use more reds and rusts in my blocks - scared of the dreaded 'run'...I also notice that when I do wash, the fabric weave seems to be a bit tighter and when I starch...it works just so much better...for me anyway.

fudge and furs

I always pre wash. Same reason as most that do. However my washing machine does not have a gentle cycle so I fill the machine using regular cycle for a very short time. :idea: With long lengths of fabric, not on the selvage edge, but the cut edges I sew across with a fine stitch before washing. This keeps the raw edges from unraveling during the wash cycle. Then I also have poured water into my clean bathtub with liquid gentle laundry soap, swished it around a lot, put the fabric in the washer to spin, swish the fabric in clean water and back to the washer to spin. Small pieces, ie: half yards are hung on a drying rack. Extra work, but saves the fabric. Sorry about the duplicate message. :-(

sewbizgirl

This very topic was the subject of today's Quilting Newsletter. You can sign up to get these with the link at the very top of the page... For those of you who didn't see it, this is what it said:
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Pre-washing fabric

There is quite a lot of discussion in the quilting community concerning pre-washing fabric or not pre-washing fabric. Many quilters are certain there is no need to pre-wash fabric and as many quilters insist that fabric must be pre-washed.

I pre-wash all fabric, backing, cotton batting, and flannel before cutting. I will list some of the reasons I pre-wash my fabric.

1.Pre-washing removes sizing and other chemicals left in the fabric during manufacturer. Some may have allergies to new fabric.

2.Pre-washing shrinks the fabric so the quilt won't shrink unevenly in later washings. Each fabric will shrink at a different rate and this could cause lumps and unevenness in the quilt. I have had first quality cotton fabric shrink as much as four inches in width!

3.Pre-washing insures colorfastness. If a fabric bleeds too much it can be treated with a salt or vinegar rinse or discarded before using it in a quilt. After a fabric is sewn in a quilt it can easily bleed onto other fabrics.

All of my new fabric is taken directly to the laundry room where I keep a small mat, ruler and pinking rotary cutter. I trim all the cut edges with a pinking rotary cutter. This helps alleviate the strings that hang from the fabric after it is washed and dried. When fabric is dry, I simply fold the fabric in my preferred method to fit my storage totes. I usually do not put the fabric away for several days to be certain the fabric is dry. I do not iron fabric until I am ready to use it. If I iron it first, and fold it for storage, it needs to be re-ironed again just before using anyway.

Flannel fabric will shrink even more than regular quilting cottons so it should be pre-washed. If flannel fabric becomes too soft from washing and drying, a light spray of spray sizing or spray starch when ironing would renew the body or stiffness of new fabric.

Cotton batting will shrink quite a lot and will give your quilt the "antique" look. If this is the look you wish to have, do not pre-shrink your cotton or cotton blend batting. If you don't want this shrinkage to occur, you would need to pre-shrink your cotton and blend battings. You do not need to preshrink 100% polyester batting.

Most brands of batting will have pre-shrinking instructions on the package. If not, simply fill your washing machine with warm water. Unroll and place cotton batting in water. Turn washing machine off and let the batting soak for at least thirty minutes. Do not agitate. Spin water out on a very short spin cycle and dry the batting in the dryer on low temperature.

Pre-shrinking fabric is a necessary and important step to quality quiltmaking. If you wish your quilt to be flat and smooth you don't want your fabric to be shrinking at uneven rates.
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Good article!

pbjbaby

I learned my lesson the hard way. I prewash all fabric I buy by the yard and always purchase a bit more, and I don't prewash fabric I buy in a kit. I did that once and the cuts were all off. Never again, you end up losing money and time. Also, I use a shout "color catcher" helps with the red fabrics.

Barb44

I did not prewash for years and when I would press a new fabric the chemical smell would make me sick. Now I prewash everything. I really like working with washed and starched fabric. I usually do not buy precuts, but if I do they get washed by hand. I let them soak for about 1/2 hour, swish them, squeeze out water, roll in a towel, and hang or lay out to dry.

nanna-up-north

I have always been a prewasher. When I purchased the fabric for the last quilt I made, the quilt shop owner told me not to wash it. Instead she said to use color catcher when it was washed. It was a lot of fabric for a king sized quilt so I followed her advise. She said that good quality fabrics will not bleed. She was right .... no bleeding but when I washed the finished quilt the shrinkage factor kicked in. The quilt had the look of an old quilt and that was the look I was trying to get. So it was fine...... but, if I don't want that crinkly look, I'll prewash again.

Robinlee

I prewash.............that being said, it comes from experience of having colors bleed, then your quilt is ruined.
I've always "prewashed", course that didn't help a quilt that was a wedding present that I did. It took some soaking and OXY clean to get most of the blue of the yellow and the yellow out of the white. And these two fabics were washed/dryed twice before the cuttin' and quiltin' began.

I pre-wash panels and strips(you wouldn't believe the colors that bleed) in a big bowl of HOT water and then rinse in cold, roll up in a towel to get most water out and throw in dryer with towel and extra dry towel to assist in drying quickyly. Have very little strings from edges being a problem this way too.

Another thing to add is the "Color catchers". These work wonderful, but I still prewash. After the blue/yellow fiasco, I learned my lesson. Not taking chances.

mojo11

I always prewash every piece of fabric I get. I don't want any bleeding, shrinkage or chemicals in my work. Not healthy to breathe or handle all the chemicals and sizing.
My opinion.

penski

that is the reason i pre wash all my fabric

It'sJustMe

I prewash all my fabrics so there's no need to worry about uneven shrinking when combining yard goods from different lines or companies. Don't prewash the Warm and Natural cotton batting though...I like the crinkly looks it gives after the quilts final hot wash.