kellyer21

Hi. I'm wondering whether I should prewash small pieces I'll be using to make a quilt. Some are factory precuts, such as some strips, some are various sizes and shapes. I prewashed some small pieces recently and they frayed terribly!
Thanks!

Quiltwoman44

most of us do not wash pre cuts. some have put charms into lingerie bags and that helps with the fraying a bit. still would need to be pressed well after wash. small cuts should work well as they come.

Tartan

I hand wash small pieces and use a salad spinner to get the water out. Lay flat on a towel to dry or iron dry. If you do not know the fibre content of the pieces, ironing my melt them.

Julienm1

salad spinner here too! double rinse

platyhiker

My approach is to hand wash and give them a good long soak (hours or overnight) to let any loose dye get free of the fabric. (If a lot of dye comes out, I do a second wash and soak.) Rinse thoroughly, squeeze out what water I can (I don't bother with tight wringing.) and hang to dry. Iron while still damp. It takes a little more hand-on time then just throwing things into the washing machine, but there's no fraying with this method.

pocoellie

Washing or not, is really a personal choice, I don't pre-wash my fabrics and have never had a problem with them as far as quilting, now, if you're talking making clothing out of the fabrics, then definitely I pre-wash.

joe'smom

I soak and rinse small pieces by hand, then put in a mesh bag and spin dry in the machine, hang to dry.

Rff1010

I only prewash flannel and yardage - never precuts because of the fraying. I am told you can stay stitch the edges to prevent the problem.

Snooze2978

If you put them in your washer, be prepared to find a bunch of threads afterwards. I starch pretty much everything before I cut into them including pre-cuts but I dip them in my starch mixture and then put them thru my home-made wringer so small pre-cuts come thru almost flat and smooth. The rest of them I hang to dry and them press. Even putting yardage thru a wash machine is difficult due to all the loose ends becoming a ball of threads. Tried trimming the corner off as suggested and it didn't pan out well. I've serged the cut ends once upon a time but that's a lot of wasted thread and time but it did work. Again, now I just put thru my starch mixture and call it good.

mojo11

I prewash all my fabrics - yardage and precuts. There is so much dirt and chemicals in fabric from the manufacturer. I hand applique so I use a lot of small pieces and a salad spinner works great.