I'm a washer. I wash precuts in the sink, then spin in the salad spinner (although I must say I don't buy many pre cuts).
For me, pre washing is a genetic characteristic. My mom pre washed everything, so I do too. I have found that everything seems to shrink selvedge to selvedge. Moda, Hoffman, Kaufman, etc. everything except batiks (and they bleed). It's my understanding that the fibers don't really shrink, but they were stretched during the printing process and the washing relaxes them back to their original length. As far as the non washers not having problems, I think it's two reasons: Cotton batting and/or quilting stitch stabilization. If you use cotton batting and don't pre wash the batting, it shrinks giving you that crinkled look, so any additional fabric shrinkage absorbed. Also, the closer together your quilting pattern, the more the fabric is stablized, again minimizing shrinkage. So do I really, really need to pre wash, probably not. Will I continue? Yes. I can hear my mom's voice. I will also button my coat, and not race my sewing machine. YES!!! you need to buy an accucut!!! |
I prewash my fabrics for the most part. It's not as much because of shrinkage, it's more because I like the feel and behavior of fabric that has been pre-washed then starched. There are a few exceptions:
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Most people misunderstand shrinkage. Once a fabric is quilted into a quilt, it becomes one with the batting and the batting controls the shrinkage. Certainly fabrics shrink in different ways when washed by themselves. However, once bound by a reasonable amount of quilting into a quilt, none will shrink more than the batting allows. This is why people who don't prewash fabrics and/or don't prewash pre-cuts and/or mix prewashed with washed fabrics don't have hugely distorted quilts when they are done.
The above does *not* apply if you tie a quilt, or if the quilting is 12" apart. |
Originally Posted by jcrow
(Post 5671781)
That is exactly why I don't wash pre-cuts. But, I don't wash any of my other fabric either. What if you are doing a block and you are using 10" layer cakes and you've washed them and now they are smaller, but you needed them to be 10"? I would never wash them, also, because of shrinkage. And jelly rolls and charms wouldn't be the correct size after you wash them...if you need them to be 2 1/2" or 5" for the charms. What would you do then? I do not pre-wash unless I think it will bleed.
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Originally Posted by Lisa_wanna_b_quilter
(Post 5671783)
It seems to me on the never ending debate about pre-washing, the best thing to do is the same thing to all the fabric in the quilt. If you wash, I'd say wash it all. If you don't wash the precuts, maybe you shouldn't wash the yardage for that quilt.
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Originally Posted by Candace
(Post 5671713)
If you want to prewash (and I prewash!) then understand washing precuts will make them not square and smaller than what they started out as. Quilters pay a premium to have precuts done to a size they can use immediately and not fuss with or many times avoid cutting. If you're going to wash them, why pay a premium for this and you should just buy the yardage...
I never buy them, well hardly ever. I watch the sales/coupons at Joann's and buy them then. I make lap quilts for people at my church and one fat quarter makes the halt the points for 5 Northern Star blocks, the other half being a matching solid. I bought, washed and they shrunk and wrinkled, but I ironed and cut and had a tad of scrap left over. The reason I ask is I just won a contest and it was a complete full line of a Moda fabric line of the fat quarterscalled "sew Stitchy" and complete line of Moda cakelayers "Simply Color". These are quality brand fabrics..and I have used Kona solids from Joann's but that is the extent of my "quality". So I don't know if I should or shouldn't. Usually I do just buy the yardage and cut my own..really not that big a deal or time spent! |
Originally Posted by PaperPrincess
(Post 5671814)
I'm a washer. I wash precuts in the sink, then spin in the salad spinner (although I must say I don't buy many pre cuts).
For me, pre washing is a genetic characteristic. My mom pre washed everything, so I do too. I have found that everything seems to shrink selvedge to selvedge. Moda, Hoffman, Kaufman, etc. everything except batiks (and they bleed). It's my understanding that the fibers don't really shrink, but they were stretched during the printing process and the washing relaxes them back to their original length. As far as the non washers not having problems, I think it's two reasons: Cotton batting and/or quilting stitch stabilization. If you use cotton batting and don't pre wash the batting, it shrinks giving you that crinkled look, so any additional fabric shrinkage absorbed. Also, the closer together your quilting pattern, the more the fabric is stablized, again minimizing shrinkage. So do I really, really need to pre wash, probably not. Will I continue? Yes. I can hear my mom's voice. I will also button my coat, and not race my sewing machine. YES!!! you need to buy an accucut!!! |
Originally Posted by Bataplai
(Post 5671830)
I prewash my fabrics for the most part. It's not as much because of shrinkage, it's more because I like the feel and behavior of fabric that has been pre-washed then starched. There are a few exceptions:
I was asking as I just won a drawing of a full line of MODA fat quarters and another full line of MODA cake layers. The FQ's I am not much worried about.. I'll wash, but the cake layers...much smaller and them being a quality brand, not Joann's brand...would it matter either way? Just stick the cake layers in a lingerie bag like I did the charms? |
Originally Posted by Prism99
(Post 5671866)
Most people misunderstand shrinkage. Once a fabric is quilted into a quilt, it becomes one with the batting and the batting controls the shrinkage. Certainly fabrics shrink in different ways when washed by themselves. However, once bound by a reasonable amount of quilting into a quilt, none will shrink more than the batting allows. This is why people who don't prewash fabrics and/or don't prewash pre-cuts and/or mix prewashed with washed fabrics don't have hugely distorted quilts when they are done.
The above does *not* apply if you tie a quilt, or if the quilting is 12" apart. But in addition to shrinkage..what about bleeding of colors? I got zapped by that once...I prewashed and thought I had it...and then once the quilt was done, I washed it and the reds ran and ruined it..it was an Americanflag. So I bought those color sheet things and I use them when I wash fabric, and am amazed at all the color that comes out on it! If it wasn't for that sheet, those colors would be on other fabrics..... |
Polyester batting does not shrink at all. Cotton batting (including 80/20) and wool usually shrink anywhere from 1-5% depending on how the batting is made. Most shrink about 3%, which gives a nice crinkled effect. Antique quilts have that crinkled look because they were made with cotton or wool batting.
Only some types of cotton batting can be pre-washed to pre-shrink. A traditional batting such as Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon 100% cotton cannot be preshrunk because there is nothing in it to hold it together in the presence of water; that's why it needs to be quilted every 2". A cotton batting such as Warm and Natural that is needlepunched, as can certain types of bonded batting. However, I'm not sure why anyone would want to go to the trouble to pre-shrink a cotton batting. If you want a totally unshrunk look, just use polyester batting which does not shrink at all. Those of us who do not prewash fabrics tend to test suspicious fabrics before using them. I drop a small piece into a glass of water and watch to see if dye bleeds into the water, then rub the damp fabric against white fabric to see if any dye transfers that way. All I am trying to do is eliminate really bad bleeders. My first wash of a quilt is always in *lots* of hot water with Synthrapol, which suspends unset dye particles so they can be rinsed away instead of settling into other fabrics. Even when fabrics bleed, a lot depends on whether or not another fabric will pick up the bleed; not all do. |
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