Do you pre-wash batik when using with regular jelly rolls
 

A friend asked me today if she should pre-wash her batiks that she will be using with a jelly roll made from regular cotton quilt fabric? You can't wash the jelly roll without making a huge mess but she doesn't want uneven shrinkage in her quilt. I didn't know how to answer?

Pati

she should at least check for color fastness in the batiks. I have found that they do have a bit of bleeding and you don't want that bleeding into other fabrics. I had a fabric that I just loved, but after washing it 6 times it was still bleeding really really really bad. it is sitting on a shelf waiting for me to get some dye setter stuff (can't remember the name), I can only imagine what would have happened in the quilt it was destined for if i had put it in.

Is the color fastness Retayne your looking for? I've used that and also Rit has one but I have a hard time getting it. I like to wash because I have had things bleed and make a mess on a rag quilt which was already sewed together. Good luck. Sue

She should definately test for colorfastness on the batik strips. She can do this by wetting a q tip with water and rubbing it across the fabric and see if any colors lift off. The strips could be hand washed gently to see if any of the colors run. I wouldn't get too vigorous with them. I would keep rinsing them until the water is clear. Someone had suggested once that when she washed pre cuts she did it by hand in the sink and then put them into a salad spinner to remove the excess water.

I would not sew on any batiks without checking for bleeding . Run them under warm/hot water .. till they no longer shed any dye. Sometimes I just let them soak in hot water , and then rinse like crazy. I hang dry them.

I read on here that you can even prewash jellyrolls by hand then spin them out using a salad spinner a few at a time. I'm going to try it on a jelly roll sometime in June. I would definitely prewash the batiks in straight hot water and Retayne checking for colorfastness with a color catcher. Another post suggested putting the color catcher in a mesh bag so it can't clog up washer. Especially in front loader. Have fun with your project.

I have read here that you should not prewash pre cuts. Before I read that...I always prewashed ALL my fabric. I was amazed how strips from the same line were different lengths after they were washed. So I will continue to prewash everthing. To each his own. This has worked well for me. BrendaK

I used to prewash EVERYTHING the instant it came thru my front door. I don't wash any of my precuts because I did once & it shrunk like nobody's business.

I use a lot of batik (usually brand name ones), but I don't prewash the precuts. When my quilt is done, I wash it with a few color catchers and have never had a problem. I do prewash the yardage though, also with color catchers. Mostly the color catchers come out with very little color on them - maybe it's due to the quality of the fabric? I generally buy the major brand names. I find that I get more color on them from greens/yellows than I do purples/reds/blues. That surprised me.

I live on the wild side. I only prewash when it is required for an exchange or if I am using white in the quilt.

I wash everything. Batiks bleed and cotton fabric shrinks. I have found that my fabric has been shrinking a lot WOF this is how the jellly rolls are cut, so I always wash mine. Just fill your sink with warm, almost hot, water, add a few drops of liquid washing machine detergent and swish them around for a while. I rinse well with cool water, then spin them in a salad spinner, about 10 strips at a time. Then I let them air dry till almost dry and iron. If I'm going to cut them into triangles, I'll hit them with spray starch. As one poster said, they shrink like crazy. I wonder how a quilt would look with all the shrinkage only going in one direction? As far as the batiks are concerned, you want to at least test to make sure they don't bleed.

I don't pre-wash anything unless there's white in the quilt.
It's easier to work with unwashed fabric.
Been quilting since the 70s - back then I did wash everything - got lazy and found it made no difference.

I've been sewing since the 1950's - I still think it's worth the effort to wash everything washable before cutting it.

Guess we'll all have to agree that what we do is what works for us!

I don't prewash anything. When the quilt is done, I wash it in warm/cool water and use vinegar in the rinse water to set the colours. Never had any problems, but everyone should do what feels best for them.

Batiks definatly bleed...... Depends on the color for how much bleeding. I had some yellow/orange and it didn't bleed nearly as much as some red/purple.
If its all batik fabrics I'd say color catcher several times in cool/warm water and then heat up the water depending on how much bleeding is going on. Good luck.