Aurgh...I will never not prewash again...
 

I bought some fabric...which for one was cheaper quaility...I will behave and not say where...it feels stiff and I figured I would try not prewashing and just cut...than starch and iron. My 10 inch squares were no longer 10 inch squares once I ironed them. What a pain in the neck....I am now cutting them all to 8 inches...Not a happy camper...My husband thinks I should have washed them before I recut them...hope I am not making another mistake...fingers crossed...

If they shrunk while ironing, I would definitely pre-wash before trying again. Unless the entire quilt is made with this fabric I think you might be in for a sad result when you wash the quilt.

I agree with Kristakz.

I also agree. I just decided to bite the bullet and make the decision to always prewash. I even plan to prewash some jelly roll batiks before I use them. Someone on the forum said you could wash them by hand and spin them out a few at a time with a salad spinner. Glad I saved mine from going in the junk!

I've learned the hard way that's it's important to pre-wash. The only time I don't pre-wash is when it's a kit. Not sure if there is any extra material that is allowed for shrinkage.

That's too bad. I prewash all my fabrics and so often they are no longer a yard or a fat quarter.

I am cutting out quilt pieces from a kit now. It is my first one and the instructions specifically say to wash the fabric that enough is allowed for shrinkage. I had already washed it before I read on here that you might come up short so I was very nervous about having enough. Then I read the pattern instructions before actually cutting and so it will work and I will actually have enough for my stash. Maybe all kits carry this information???

I always prewash my fabrics. I got a quilt kit with very good fsbrics , that I didn't prewash and it turned out great. All yardage gets prewashed. always good results.

i'm making a quilt now and when I finished the top I washed it instead of prewashing. MISTAKE! I will always prewash from now on!

i understand the logic behind not prewashing, but it's just not a risk i have ever been willing to take.

sorry for you 10/8 :(

aileen

I also agree with everyone else. I wouldn't go another step further without washing and drying your blocks.

NOTHING gets past my washing machine and dryer until it's washed and dried! I'm also careful when I iron, making sure not to push the iron on the diagonal, but keeping it in line with the grain when possible. It helps keep the fabric from stretching, and I no longer "iron", but rather "press" when my pieces are sewn together. It really does make a big difference in the finished block and requires much less trimming, if any at all.

I really hate when that happens!

I've had Michael Miller black - which I purchased from a LQS - shrink over 2.5 inches in width.

I'm with your husband - soak those pieces in hot water - actually measure them before and after - just for kicks - roll them out in a towel to get rid of some of that water - and then dry them on a towel bar or drying rack.

I really can't tell - just by looking at a fabric - how it's going to behave. I've measured hundreds of fabrics before and after soaking them in hot water and washing them to see if there was any shrinkage. Some shrink not at all - including 'fabrics purchased at WalMart' - and I've had some noticeable shrinkage from fabrics purchased from all sources.

you can do it this way, BUT why if you don't have too? FIRST, do a color test by just dipping the end of each strip into HOT water....then rub on a white cloth...if NO color, then you should be safe to cut and sew THEN wash your quilt. Batiks, realy ones, generally do not shrink as they are boiled to remove the resist, paint, etc

I finished recutting them last night, ironed them all with wetting them with mary ellen press...so taking the chance. when I FMQ it I will use a smaller stipple. If worst comes to worst my cats will get this quilt. (not that they want it...its the first time they have not rolled on my fabric - the blocks are all laid out on the floor and not of the cats have laid on them. That also is a first.) The fabric feel is yuky...not sure I really want to give this to my mother. Very disappointed in the fabric...colors are very pretty but the feel is very odd and the way it shrunk was really weird..at least I learned on materail that I did not pay 12.00 a yard on .

Every peice of fabric that comes into my home is prewashed before it is used, not to check for shrinkage (although this matters with quilt fabric) but to make sure it is CLEAN, who knows where it has been (china, india, mexico) and whose hands it has been through. I have been sewing for over 50 years and still wash every thing! Maggiebb

I make my decision whether to prewash by what the finished piece will be used for. If it's for a baby quilt, then everything gets prewashed in hot water and dried in the dryer. I want to remove all chemicals first and foremost, and then I want to make sure that the quilt can be washed over and over without shrinking or colors bleeding. If the end use will be a wall hanging, then I'm okay with not prewashing because the likelihood that the hanging will get stained is pretty low. Placemats and table runners definitely get washed and dried, because they're going to be used.

I have done alot of prewashing by hand in a large white sink, and you'd be surprised how many fabrics bleed, both from quilt shops and big box stores. There isn't a color out there that I haven't witnessed bleed. The white sink and smaller amount of water, as compared to a full washing machine, really show up the bleeding. I use the hottest water I can get out of the tap and rinse until the water is clear or nearly so.

Me, too. When I use the sink, or other small container, I don't feel 'guilty' about using a lot of water. (We have a septic system, so what is used, does matter)

To paraphrase Dorene Speckman - if you don't like the fabric now, you probably won't like it 20 years from now

Sometimes it's better to just ditch the unliked/icky fabric, and replace it with something you do like. Is it really worth it to try to salvage X$ and mess up the rest of the project?

I wash 8 yds of a brand name white cotton and it was 12 inches shorter than when I started.

I prewash everything. If it is going to shrink or bleed, I want to know that before I put it in a quilt.

What do you do about Blocks of the months kits? They barely give you enough fabrics to start with!

amen and amen

All of you that wash in the hottest water you can- have you ever read the care instructions on the ends of the bolts? they say wash in cold water. maybe that is why you all get so much shrinkage. If you want the best results, follow the care instructions.

Found these instructions on fabrics:
http://www.denverfabrics.com/pages/s...are-quilts.htm

I am aware of those instructions.

HOWEVER - I make quilts that I know are going to be 'used hard' - and I am also reasonably sure that the new owner will probably be doing well to just get the things washed now and then - forget about any TLC! As long as they don't use bleach, the quilt should turn out fine.

rather ironic, don't you think? When so many people are using Retayne and/or Synthropol to treat their fabrics - and both of them need HOT water to work their magic

I am sorry so many of you have had such issues.

Maybe one of the reasons I DON'T have a lot of problems is I don't wash anything but greasy work clothes and my sons' running clothes in hot water. That is way too expensive.

I prewash batiks and flannels, both in cold water. I press everything else before I use it including my batting. All of this "preshrinks" most things. Works for me and that is what I am sticking with.

I have picked up jelly rolls that have shrunk on me, I too thought it was just stiff and needed a pre wash. So it can be any kind of fabric that can shrink on a person. If you don't like the fabric now, put it asided for something else and get a new fabric. I use items like that for stuffing toys when it becomes that bad from shrinkage.

I have that the no pre-wash advice often comes from designers and shop owners who have no intention to wash a quilt. They are making them for wall quilts or show quilts and not for using them. They say that you don't have to wash the fabrics but I always prewash. I want my quilts to be loved and used not hung on the wall or displayed only. Even the good batiks have some color loss when washed....not every one but it only takes one in a quilt to fade t ruin a quilt. Choose your threads wisely as well. I have a quilt that was quillting maybe ten years ago by a professional and the thread (multi-colored) used ran in areas. I have no idea what brand was used. I hope the thread are much improved now.

My feet are firmly planted in on the prewash side...that said however. I've had red bleed a second go round after prewashing. I now set all my reds with salt water when I wash it.

Both the washing AND drier shrink the fabrics, so you need to do both to get the full effect. Some fabrics, esp flannels, continue to shrink for 2 or 3 wash/dry cycles.

I, for one, cannot believe that so many of you on this board, do not pre-wash. The first thing I was taught was to pre-wash any fabric that I bought when I brought it into the house. We have no guarantee's on ANY fabric we buy and the safest way is to pre-wash. That way I never have any surprise's like yours. I am so sorry for you. What a nasty way to learn that lesson. Good luck to you.
Judy

It may have been rayon thread - it's not color-fast.

I too have learned the hard way to always prewash my fabrics before using!

This is my "prewash" philosophy as well. Fabrics for baby quilts and lap quilts, where they will get a lot of use and will be washed often, are definitely prewashed. Same with table runners. Wall hangings not so much.

I prewash all my fabrics with a color catcher. I do wash in cool water and put my dryer on reg cycle.

I prewash and dry everything! Even jelly rolls as in my front loaders the handwash cycle is so gentle they hardly fray.

I think fabric grain gets distorted as it is rolled out in the factory...must come out slightly damp or the first rolling really stretches the fabric. The distortion can be extreme, which is why we used to cut fabric by pulling a single thread and cutting along that line, which gives you the true grain of fabric.

I wash everything, even kits.
I won't let in into my quilt-room until it's been washed.
Better safe then sorry.

I pre-wash for TWO reasons: first, I agree with Maggiebb. Who knows what critters could be in the fabric after it gets from the original mill to my house and second: I learned the hard way after I washed a completed slipcover and could never get it zipped back up after that fateful day!