OMG, that is gross!!! I usually don't wash my fabric unless I am concerned about bleeding or excessive shrinking (flannel) but I may have to re-think my plan. Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for sharing. I am going to start washing my fabric now

I always prewash-except for precuts and a BOM from a LQS that were prepackaged, but if I wasn't, this thread would change my mind! Ew and double ew!

Fabric is required to be treated with formaldehyde for shipping purposes. It kills any bugs that may find their way into the bolt, preventing foreign insects from being introduced into the country. After a day of cutting fabric at the shop, my hands have a slimy chemical coating on them. You bet your buttons I prewash all my fabric! (Except for precuts...but they do get washed after the quilt is made). Actually, I don't buy precuts very often for this reason.

I wash my fabric UNLESS it's fat quarters or charm squares then I don't because I'm afraid of too much shrinkage.

When I worked in a sewing factory, sometimes fabric came in with live fleas. They stayed with the fabric through the warehouse, the cutting room and onto the sewing floor. When the sewers started scratching and having red welts, thennnnn, the powers that be, would have the factory sprayed for bugs.

Double eeeewwwww!!! I would not go back to that store. I called a couple of shops here and they had NEVER had such things. I even called a shop I used to go to in FL and asked them....
I no longer wash and won't because I spent almost more time washing and ironing my fabric than sewing and I decided to liberate myself.
I know you are in a tropical area but I used to live in FL also and never had anything like that. I know the big box stores have truckloads come in and sometimes the goods are not stored in sealed, a/c areas.

I lay out my smaller peices of fabric on my ironing board then I spray them with water and then iron them dry.

I only do it to prevent shrinkage but if you are concerned about chemicals you could gently soak them in a bowl of sudsy water, rinse gently and then iron them dry.

I have seen the light, and I am now a pre-wash convert! Fleas, bedbugs, mice, bird poop....TMI! I don't even want to think about it........washer here I come!

Just my 2 cents every fabric shrinks, and sometimes bleeds at a different rate, so if you want a better looking quilt in the end, wash first.
Pat