I am having heart failure. I'm taking a class tomorrow and have to pre-cut a zillion pieces. I cut my strips before cutting the small pieces, starched the strips and ironed and EEEKKKK!!! They shrank by 1/4" I am ready to give up!

Did not pre-wash, but did cut 8" wide strips and then starched and ironed as directed before cutting smaller pieces. What a nightmare.

Did you wash your fabrics BEFORE cutting them?

Boy,i would have starched and ironed before cutting.Connie in CO

looks like another "learn and live" experience!

There are times when "haste does make waste"

It might have been better to starch before cutting. That would have been easier, too. A little late for that advise I guess. Don't give up, I'm sure it can be fixed. Did all the strips shrink, or just the bias parts? It would possibly be usable only smaller. It would be a shame if you can't use what is already cut.
Sue

No. :(

If you did a bit of math you should be able to use those pieces You'd have to see how they all go together to see what would or would not need to be cut smaller still You could just make it all a little bit smaller ;) Worst case scenerio, I would set them aside and make a second one of whatever you are making in class - but make it all just a wee bit smaller :D At least you would not be out all that fabric.

The strips were quite wide ~ 8" ~ and I needed to cut from those AFTER starching and ironing according to my directions. They sure won't go to waste. Not at the price I paid for the fabric! :( :thumbdown:

%$%^(*&^)(*_%#^%!!!!!!!!
Lesson learned the HARD way!

Starch BEFORE cutting and sewing!!!!

Now you have strips for starting a strip quilt
:oops: :cry:

Krystyna, I am so sorry you ran into trouble - sharing your trouble on the board is often a way to save the rest of us from a similar fate. Usually starch makes a piece bigger and sizing shrinks it up, in my experience.

You have my sympathy - and hope your class is great :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

I do hope someone else learns from this. The directions said to starch HEAVILY so everything would be really crisp. What a mess. I'll be cutting until midnight at this rate.

I'm so sorry! I know what you mean about the price of the fabric. On a positive note, you'll have an awesome scrappy quilt start!

I had the same problem with a small panel today. I starched, let air dry and then hit it with an iron. And it shrank, no I didnt pre wash the pattern said not to. I didnt even consider the hot iron shrinking the panel. Thankfully I had another.

Boy! everytime you read someone's experience you learn another thing. I didn't know this either.

How peculiar is this: the 3" strips are just fine!

Oh yea.......I learned the hard way. You best starch, iron and then Cut.........Aslk me how I know about this.

Happy Quilting everyone.

I never had that happen to me thank goodness.

OK ~ How do you know about this :?: :?: :?:

Don't know how joy learned it but I just learned it from Krystyna

I don't understand why they would say to starch unwashed fabric after it has been cut. It already has sizing. Washed fabric is starched to make it easier to cut. I wash, starch and iron, and then cut.

Did you use steam??? I'm wondering if it was the steam rather than the starch, but if you ironed damp from starch, it would create steam. The 3 Inch strips probably shrunk a tiny bit. It would be proportional. The larger strip would show a larger shrinkage amount.

I don't pre-wash, but I always starch and iron my yardage ***before*** cutting. Prevents this problem.

Live and learn, is all I can say.
Back to cutting out 196,000 pieces.
The math is a little complicated to follow but here goes
468 actual pieces
Plus Stressful Shrinkage Factor
Times emotional turmoil
Equals 196,000

That math works for me!

I didn't know one was supposed to let starch/sizing dry before pressing it - so I soaked the pieces, and ironed/pressed away.

My pieces grew.

Calm down.. Take a deep breath..
You learned a hard lesson, but try to get over it, and go on..
I might be in for that lesson, and don't know what I'm going to do.. I started making scrap squares, and didn't realize that some of the fabric wasn't washed.. When I ironed it before I cut the 6.5 square it bled on the towel on the ironing board.. That is a problem, but my first quilt I made 20 years ago was made with some of those materials, and was never washed.. I'm in a panic just thinking about it..
Barri

You may want to run a "search" on Synthrapol here, and also Google it. Used with lots of water in a first wash, Synthrapol can help suspend bleeds in the water so dye doesn't settle into other fabric.

Again another vote for pre-washing... (just sayin)

What kind of fabrics was it? I've had that happen with solid cottons -- I think they were quilter's candy-- from Connecting Threads. It's ok fabric for the price, but you really don't want to go pressing with steam until it's been quilted, or significant shrinkage occurs. I was lucky that I had my shrinking moments before I cut, but it was still alarming to actually see the fabric drawing up smaller.

Cutting that many pieces makes me wonder (just a wonder, not a criticism) why the class is not making this an opportunity to learn about strip piecing as a means of avoiding having to cut so many small individual pieces?

RST

RST

There's more cutting at the class!!! New York Beauty Block.
:shock:

Always, always starch before cutting anything, pre-washed or not. Sorry you had a problem hope you have enough fabric to fix it.

That is a good tip Connie.

I know how you feel! I do not like to wash and press fabric before making a quilt. Most of the time I buy high quality, high thread count fabric so the shrinkage is very minimal but when I buy cheaper fabric I've learned the hard way like you....it pays to preshrink the fabric.

Don't toss out the fabric...save the scraps for a scrap quilt someday. What is the saying? When life throws you scrap...make a quilt!

WOW, from everyone we learn a little something....thanks for warning me!

Some fabrics shrink in only one direction.

Are the three inch strips the same material? Did you do them after you had starched and pressed the others? Just wondering if there was a learning curve with how much starch, or if a different material worked.

Sorry Krystyna. I hope the class is fun for you. This will be the quilt with memories:S

I agree with this. I've read that starching and ironing wiill preshrink if you don't prewash.

Sorry that this happened!!
Is it okay to starch with Best Press??

Hi Krystyna,
I assume you are taking the LIQS workshop, by the time you read this you will already be in the class. I hope that Linda left some leeway in the measurements. I took a class with Linda Hahn several years ago and had a great time, and really learned a lot.

If she didn't leave enough room in the cut pieces, remember you can always copy the pattern and shrink it so you can use the fabric you already cut.

Let us know what happened. I hope your class goes well!

(I've done things like you just did!!!!!!)

Wetting down your fabric is almost the same as washing in hot water and drying in a hot dryer. That is why you had the shrinkage.

In my first quilting class, I didn't follow instructions when they asked me to prewash my fabrics. So the teacher made me wet down my fabric and iron them dry to get the most shrinkage out of the fabric.

Also, you always starch your fabric BEFORE you cut, as it makes rotary cutting your fabric so much easier.

Sorry this happened to you. Sometimes learning can be painful, but you will only make this mistake once. The more painful the experience the better you remember the next time.