Thanks for all of the advice! I really hate the washing, but I am trying to be better about it ahead of time. It does make sense to wait until I move, but that's at least 6 months from now. And I am sure that I will be making quilts right up until the packers come. So I won't know what fabrics I will want to use until a new project comes up. So if I wash ahead of time, I can just pull and cut what I need w/o having to wash it before starting that project. That gives me enough of a reason to wash them when I get a free chance. I am hoping to work on quite a few projects before the summer move. So I may use up quite a bit of fabric, especially since I am going to TRY to not buy anymore, just shop in my stash. So I'm happy I washed a lot of it. Love the Color Catchers, too. It's a shame they don't come in boxes of 100 or more!
Tanya

I noticed that you said you cut 2.5" strips, 3 yard pieces, and then wash.

Personally, I would not wash strips. They won't be 2.5" afterward, from both shrinkage and raveling.

I always wash when I buy and then iron it before I use it.

have a friend that has a basement FULL of unwashed fabric. She has made over 100 quilts. NEVER washed a lick. I asked her why. She said she was always too excited to use it and when it all goes to her family later on , as quilts, it's every man for themselves. I hate to see what some of those beautiful quilts will come out looking like after washed years from now!

I don't wash until I need it, and I agree that I would not cut into a 6 yard piece. That would be the very piece I needed to use as a whole unit.

When moving back to the states a few years ago I mailed out my cheap sewing machine with a few different boxes with various projects to the post office on base because we did not know where we would officially stay. I arrived in town and went to the base to retrieve my goods. Really no down time in sewing. I feared it would take months for our stuff to get from Spangdahlem to Oklahoma City.

I wasn't washing the strips at all. I know better than to do that! I really didn't explain myself well in the original post. But I was mostly cutting down for my trading group and then washing what was left. I had to cut some down from the 10-12 yard pieces just to fit in the smaller washing machines we have in the basement. The 3 yard cuts were mostly for trading and I didn't was those, they went into a separate pile.

I have always washed all fabrics before they get to join the stash. And I LOVE color catchers. I have learned to trust them to the extent that I can wash my DH's best white shirt with new red or black fabric and not worry when there's a color catcher in the load. Color Catchers are one product that has truly changed my life. (No, I have no financial or other connection with them. I just love them.)

I use to wash all fabric before it entered my sewing room but when I bought charm packs and other precuts I didn't wash them. I do a lot of wall hangings that don't get washed so now I am not washing anything. It seems I can't find a happy medium!

I used to prewash as soon as I got it home. Then I started joining swaps that wanted unwashed fabric so I would have to go buy more. Now I don't prewash unless I think it will fade.