Can/Will someone please explain to me
 

Why those that wash large pieces of fabric before cutting them balk at washing pre- cuts ?

It seems to me that the reasons for washing would be as valid for small pieces of fabric as for large pieces.

Never made any sense to me. But I don't pre-wash, as a rule.

Yes, you are right---logically, but I think the balking stems from the raveling of those smaller pieces and the fact that a precut measurement is altered due to shrinkage from pre washing....this negating the purpose of precut.......just my guess, as I do not "pre wash" anything I purchase new.....in fabric, I will check for bleed, if I think necessary, but that's it.....

I also don't wash my fabric beforehand but wouldn't precuts unravel if washed? And get really tangled up?

I pre-wash pieces fat quarter size and larger, first zig-zagging all raw edges. Trying to pre-wash a jelly roll strip would be impossible.

Exactly. a 5" square pre-cut will no longer be a 5" square after pre-washing, drying, starching and pressing. It will shrink, distort on the bias, and ravel.

I'm a dedicated pre-washer of all fabrics. For this reason I don't buy pre-cuts. The smallest I buy is a fat quarter and I typically wash those in the kitchen sink.

that said ... cutting fabric is one of the things I enjoy most about quilting. I have no reason to buy pre-cuts.

I am a die hard prewasher. I am also cheap and a fabricaholic so I don't buy precuts and prefer yardage. Occasionally I will get a fat quarter or fat eighth and I don't hesitate to toss those in the washer.

If I ever got something like a jelly roll or other precut package as a gift or won in a raffle basket I probably wouldn't prewash it due to the raveling issues, not even by hand. Chances are I would regift it.

I wash fat quarters and larger. I seldom buy smaller than a fat quarter but when I have I didn't wash for the reasons stated above -- a 5-inch square will no longer be 5 inches.

I am just like you. Every bit of fabric that comes into my house is prewashed before use. Just my way of doing things.

So - if a precut will shrink or distort if it washed before incorporating it into an item, it will not do that if it is sewn into something first and then washed?????

(I know at least one board member wlill state that adequate quilting will stabiliize things - but i do wonder if that member measured the item before and after washing.)

I prefer to know how a fabric will be after it has gone through the washing process before i cut/use it

Think about our seasonings when we cook - it does not take much of some of them to affect a large batch of food.

So in quilting - a small piece of "bad" fabric can spoil a large project.





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