Not a nice topic but I recently read that because there could possibly be bed bugs or other pests in our newly purchased fabric, it is recommended that it be put into a hot dryer for about 20 minutes as soon as we bring it home. This should kill any eggs or larvae that may have attached itself while the fabric was being shipped. I don't know how true this may be but I would rather be safe than sorry. I now wash and dry all my new purchases as soon as I get home.

Fabric bolts come from the manufacturer shrink wrapped in plastic.

Where did you read this? Just what I need -- something else to worry about! :shock:

Yick! I always wash mine anyhow.......

I forget to wash new stuff but I always wash what I buy at the thrift shops and yard sales before it goes anywhere near my stash.

Exactly. I HATE bed bugs. Ran into them in Greece in 1964 and I never want to experience that again! I was given a beautiful Greek homemade wool blanket-white with little black dots all over it. There were literally thousands of them and they weren't black dots either.

I've been worrying about this too-especially with mail-order fabrics. I put my last order in my freezer for 2 weeks. Not sure if that even works but I read it somewhere. Is it obvious if the fabrics have them? For example can you just inspect them outside before bringing them indoors? Or are they invisible? (the eggs or whatever?) I don't like putting anything other than freshly washed stuff in my dryer. I don't want those chemicals from the fabrics bouncing all over the walls and end up on my clean clothes but I don't like to prewash everything right away either.

I think one concern is that the manufacturers are in countries like China and such where they have more bed bug problems because they don't worry or don't consider them to be an issue or something like that. So the bugs would be trapped in that plastic, but it wouldn't kill them.

also there are at least 3 clothing stores in NY that have had infestations so it's not only thrift shops there. :(

It's my understanding that bed bugs need blood to live.Seems to me they would starve whilst picking their teeth and waiting for somebody to pounce on once they bought the material. What would the host be doing all that time? Mostly be scared of hotel beds where many travellers have slept - the bugs hide in the ridges of the mattresses.

I heard they can live for up to a year between "bites"