Another Reason To Wash Your Fabric!!!!
 

I don't mean to beat a dead horse here but yesterday as I was getting fabric measured the saleslady got a funny look on her face. She said that she felt something between the layers. Slowly she folded back the top layer & was relieved to only find a piece of grasslike weed. Then she told me that she has found dead mice in bolts before. YUCK!!! I guess since most of our fabric comes from overseas you just don't know what is on the boat with it. Now if you still don't want to wash your fabric, that is fine by me but I thought y'all might be interested.

Ew!!!! I like to wash fabric to get sizing and other chemicals out. I also have to use unscented soap for baths and unscented laundry detergent - skin allergies! Not just me but my DH and youngest son.

Yikes!!!! I seldom, if ever, pre-wash fabric I buy new. I always wash fabric when I buy it from the thrift stores or yard sales. Knowing things are found in new fabrics makes me re-think about washing new fabrics.

I am a washer. I know not everone is but I can not help myself and this is just another reason to.

I am a washer too. Gotta get rid of the chemicals and smells. Thanks for sharing this!

i am also a washer after i buy it. thanks for info

I too am a pre washer for allergy issues as well. I just don't understand the thinking behind not washing either before or after making the quilt. This fabric goes into a quilt that will probably be used to wrap up in. These unwashed fabrics will be touching bare skin, and how many of us will pull a quilt up over our heads when we are cold? I would never buy a piece of clothing from anywhere, including retail shops and especially thrift stores and wear it before I put it next to my skin! Why would a quilt be any different?
I am not a germaphobe but I do know that there is some nasty stuff out there and I would want to take any precaution I could to prevent any problems.

I do not prewash fabric unless I have to but I do wash my quilts after they are finished. This may change my mind. Mice and bed bugs. Yikes!

I find that pre-washing solves so many problems! Especially when the backing shrinks more than 10", yikes...I am SO glad I pre-washed that piece, could have caused major issues if I hadn't.

Oh that's just gross! That's why I'm a washer

I always prewash, but that's mainly to get the chemicals out of the fabric. Our bodies most likely won't react to them if we only have a few yards of unwashed fabric around, but when we get a good stash going, all those chemicals can become a huge problem, not only for us (as quilters), but also for our family members, including our pets. Washing takes care of that problem (and many don't know that their symptoms (headaches, stuffy noses, scratchy throats, breathing difficulties, etc.) are caused by the chemicals in unwashed fabric).

Ew ew ew!!!! We've had several traps in the house since last fall. I'm not kidding when I say we've killed over a dozen mice. Today one of my dogs started sniffing around the back of the fish tank and yup wouldn't you know it! Caught us another mouse! And here I thought they were all gone.

Thanks for the reminder!

Can you imagine merrily zipping along with your rotary cutter and hitting a "speed bump" a/k/a dead mouse. That might be enough for me to swear off quilting altogether....

Wow! Fabric and bed bugs, I haven't associated the 2. It makes me think more where I get my fabric. I've ordered some off ebay recently. I always wash fabric first so I'm sure it's fine, but I have never purchased any fabric and checked to make sure no bed bugs attached. In this day and time, I should. Thanks for the association so I do check.

This has been debated here many, many times. I am a pre washer, and always have been. The only thing I don't pre wash is precuts. And I always wash quilts after they're finished.

My question to this is what about the pre-cuts? If you wash these small pieces won't they just ravel out into nothing? I have thought of steaming them reall good but haven't yet.
I am interested in your suggestions.

Now that would put me off my quilting!

Yuck!

I wonder what the "grass like weed" was...down here in NC our woodlands and gardens are becoming overgrown with an invasive weed called Japanese stiltgrass which came to the US in the early 20th century as packing material (like straw) and has been merrily growing like crazy ever since. It is very pretty, and almost impossible to get rid of. Was this "grass like weed" perhaps the vanguard of a new invasion?! Cheerful thought.

Alison

They would have to drag my screaming body down off the ceiling if a salesperson found a mouse while cutting my fabric. And no way would I buy it no matter how perfect for my project. I am extremely mouse-a-phobic.

I'm not sure what it was because she tossed it under the counter but that sounds possible. I was just relieved it wasn't a bug...I never even thought about a mouse until she said that. FYI, this was a very clean nice store in a good neighborhood.

I am a pre washer.. glad I am even more after reading this! :) :)

Doesn't surprise me at all. Just because it looks crisp and clean, doesn't mean it is. If you think about it fabric and other imported items travel a fair bit....factories, warehouses, containers on ships and trucks, shelving in stores...bound to pick up a few bits and pieces along the way.

Haha...I just got a mental picture of this and it was so funny! I will think about this now every time I use my rotary cutter. haha

My thoughts exactly! Thanks for the tip.:p

I have some batiks all set for cutting and one of the fat quarters had yellow crusty bird poop I had to pick off of it. LOL Batiks are made in Bali, out in the sunshine! If you ever seen yellow bits stuck to your batiks... it's bird poop.

OK I'm convinced I'll wash from now on.

OMG. Who would have thought it.

NOW.....I wash my fabric before I use it! Eeewww is right!

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