Hello All:

Brand new to the board and a relatively new quilter. I took my first class at my quilt shop a year and a half ago and fell in love! Never sewed before so I do have lots of "basic" questions.

I should also say, I'm pretty obsessive so this question may sound silly.

I have been acquiring fun fabrics for my stash and thought it was time to wash and iron them and store them for projects. My quilt instructor is a "no steam" kind of lady but I've talked to other quilters who do steam. I have not used steam when quilting because I really respect my instructor's advice.

My problem is, particularly for big pieces of fabric (like a few yards) they get all spiraled in the dryer and getting those wrinkles out with a dry iron is a real challenge! I don't want to get my fabric stretched or messed up which is what I've been told happens if you use steam.

Can folks share their thoughts on whether they dry iron or steam iron their fabrics before they begin their projects?

I can't get wrinkles out unless I do use steam.

I don't put my material in the dryer. I take it from the washer to the ironing board. It is spun almost dry, so it is the right amount of damp to iron well. If it is bigger than 3 yards, I cut it in yard pieces. sayl, 2yards per. It always irons so much easier then.

Your question is a re-occuring one because everyone's opinion is different. I think the dangers of steam are for pieces that are already cut out; i.e., using steam might warp the fabric so a 4x4 block might end up a 4.1 block. This is especially true for pieces with bias edges such as triangles. Also, for cut pieces, don't iron back & forth, always go up & down. This is true for ironing seams, also.

But, for fabric which hasn't been cut for a pattern, I use a spray bottle of water, lightly spritz, and iron away.

I steam my fabric and then starch it before cutting. I don't wash my fabric before use, I figure the steam will shrink it or bleed it on the ironing cover if those problems are in the fabric.

I think your instructor was talking about after you begin your blocks, once you start pressing your seams in the block steam can distort. However, pressing fabric in prep for cutting steam shouldn't hurt. Just my thoughts.

When I wash my fabric I always iron it with steam. I also keep a spray bottle of water just in case there's a stubborn wrinkle. I also use steam with my pieces though, but I don't iron back and forth I take my iron place it on the seam and steam. Haven't had much distortion. I like my seams set for when I'm sewing them together, they just seem to lay flatter and stay in the direction they need to be.

Hello and welcome from SW Iowa. Glad to have you here. I try to get the fabric out of the dryer before it's completely dry and that makes it easier to press out those wrinkles. Otherwise I need to use steam too.

I serge or cut the edges with pinking shears so they don't get balled up in the dryer. That will help with some of the wrinkling.

I don't normally press my fabric until I'm ready to use it and I always use steam.

Welcome to the board and to the wonderful world of quilting!

Thanks to all. Based on everyone's great advice, I think I can give myself permission to use steam to iron my fabric after I wash it. LOL!! :-)

Hi and welcome to this board, lots of friendly, helpful people on here. I always wash and dry my fabric as soon as I get it home. I fold it and roll it on my ruler and store it. When I am ready to use it I iron it with steam, on the lengthwise grain and use it. I recently started pressing my piced blocks on the wrong side, I use steam on the right side, seems to make it sharper. Pressing is only moving the iron Up and down, not moving any other direction.

I never wash my fabrics before I use them and I never had a problem with shrinkage, and I have washed my quilts many times. When I get my purchased fabric home, I steam press it all and organize it until it's ready to use. Plus I always use steam to press open my seams., the trick to useing steam is to NOT slide your iron back and fourth, (that is what stretches your cut pieces), especially triangles. When they say PRESS open they mean just that. (To hold your iron down and press),
but not slide it back and fourth across the fabric

I always wash fabric...don't know why. I steam press, too, but do not slide my iron back and forth like I do when 'ironing'.

Call me lazy but I don't pre-wash my fabrics unless there's white/light colors and a deep color that might run (black, red, etc.) in the pattern. When put together, I wash the quilt using one of those color fast sheets. Works for me.

I love how the ads at the bottom of each page relate to the topic being discussed. "Swash" is the ad right now. Says it's a fresh way to get out odors and wrinkles, available only online from Target.com.

I dont iron until ready to use. Then I iron with a regular steam iron. For piece work I use a small steam travel iron that is not heavy and dosnt stretch the block. I have found it is the weight of the iron that stretchs the block. I do try to just press the seams but that does not always work out so the small iron I can iron with.

I LOVE my steam. I also love purple stuff--it's Mary Ellen's BEST PRESS starch alternative. It's available at Hancock Fabrics and also most fabric stores. It comes in a pump spray bottle like 409, is light lavender and is the best stuff I've ever used. It never clogs like regular spray starch, has just enough "hold" for bais stitching and relaxes wrinkles better than anything else.

I did a BOM at a local quilt shop. They gave us precut pieces, red was one of them. And of course the other pieces were white and a print. They obviously did not wash their fabrics...I used my Best Press (no flake starch) while piecing and the red bled all over the white. So I am glad you are washing your fabrics. I also use a dye grabber in the wash, sometimes use Retayne and now after joining wonderful groups like this, I found I could use Epson Salts in the wash. I don't dry my fabric all the way, I take it out and press and use Best Press where I need to.I always PRESS during piecing..no steam since I use BP..result is the same.If the fabric is damp from the washing or using BP, you are still steaming if using a dry iron. Never iron, only press while piecing.After pressing all of your blocks, don't forget to square them up. I learned the hard way, thinking that my quarter inch was perfect on all I had sewn...first quilt was not perfection. Live and learn.
Welcome and enjoy your new found art.
D in TX

I fan-fold my fabric for washing and pin together the folded edges. Then it goes folded into the dryer. Not much wrinkling.

I also use downy wrinkle release spray on really bad wrinkles like on the fat quarters that have been folded for eons. It really works.

Try Mary Ellen's best press. It's a light starch that really helps take the wrinkles out. My Hancock just had it on sale for $4.99.

Everyone does things different....I do not wash my fabric before use. I will only ever steam a piece of fabric that is all bunched up and wrinkled, but before cutting it to use for anything. Up and down pressure with the iron..although I admit..to some slidding at less than perfect seams.

Basically this is what I do. Large pieces and straight of grain I use steam. Small pieces and pieces on the bias I don't use steam to avoid distortion. Good luck!
Doug

lol what ever works for you

i also have a question. How or where do i get a very old pair of pinking shears? my grandmother gave these to me years ago and i have kept them put up for a very long time. Now i would like to use them but now they just shred the material.

thanks!
Sherri :)

I always wash yardage fabric, get it out of the dryer promptly but still have some wrinkles, I use steam to get it out. I don't always wash fabric that I purchase in kits. The pieces are usually small. Sometimes that can cause problems. I did some hand quilting on a 18" wall hanging, used warm and natural batting. When I washed the quilt some of the pieces got that old-fashioned wrinkled look, some areas did not. I was disappointed with the way it looked after all the time I spent on it.

Sherri did you know those old ones ca be sharpened? It use to be done at the fabric stores but I'm not sure where to get it done now.

If you're near a Hancock Fabrics they have a man that comes in once every couple of months to sharpen scissors and shears. At least the one here does. Other than that, I'd ask at any fabric shop. It sounds like they've been used to cut paper.

the no steam 'rule' really applies to pieced blocks where steam may stretch the fabric patches out of shape...for full pieces of fabric (be it yardage or fat quarters makes no difference) steam or starch for nice crisp fabric, making it much easier to cut accurately.

DITTO on getting he fabric out of the dryer before it is completely dry.

I steam everything. I press not iron and I press my blocks from top.

I use a spray bottle to press after the dryer, steaming takes too long for me. Some one had told me that to keep your large pieces of fabric from getting mangled, fold it matching the cut ends, and zigzag it. You need to trim the ends when you cut it anyway, so it doesn't matter if you waste that little bit; Frankly I haven't tried it yet. What I have done with the bigger lengths is not unfold it, that seems to minimize the mess.

Oh Great! i live near a Hancock Fabrics here in Indy! i will put that on my "shopping list" for this weekend!

thanks! whooo hooo! :-D

The only reason I don't use steam is because I think it wears out the iron faster. All steam irons start leaking after time. I know irons are cheap to replace, but if I have one I love, love, i want it to last for the rest of my life which in my case isn't all that long. lol. So I use a spray bottle, and am trying to find a good way to make my own wrinkle release to spray instead of plain water.

I have read where starch attracts a certain little bug -- kinda like moths to wool. So, I don't starch.

I pre-wash my fabric. I don't use detergent, set the washer on gentle cycle and rinse only. Most of the shrinkage happens with pounding in the dryer. (and the dryer heat.) Since fabrics shrink at differing percentages, this way I won't have pulled stitches when I wash the quilt a hundred years from now.

To keep the fabric from all that tangle in the process of washing and drying, I baste the non-selvedge edges together. They still fray, but won't get all twisted with each other. Some fabric really won't even need ironing when I take them out of the dryer, except for about an inch around the edges. Fast, easy, and I don't worry about any shrinkage after the quilt is made. Since I donate them to the Women's Shelter, I assume they get washed often. (I don't wash mine after I am through quilting because mine never touch the floor as I QAYG - don't smoke or have pets.)

"I won't have pulled stitches when I wash the quilt a hundred years from now. " I am hoping that I will not have to wash a hundred of years from now. They hopefully do not have washing machines in heaven.

I overcast the raw edges before washing.

Do not overload the dryrr. If I have a long piece, I check it every so often - it it has balled up, I unball it so the creases won't get baked in.

My dryer has a setting for how dry I want the things. I set it to "just" dry. ( don't you love that prrcise terminology?) Usually it comes out of the dryer smooth enough to fold and hand press Until I am ready to use it.

I usually iron the fabric with steam - on the back - somehow it is easier for me to spot flaws from the back -with the grain.

Welcome to the board and to the wonderful world of quilting! I am not a pre-washer and I use steam most of the time. You will get as many opinions as responses - so, bottom line, try it all ways and see what works best for you. I am hesitant to say there is no "right" or "wrong" way - just, if it works for you, or you like one way better than another, then that is the way to go, with the caveat that you are free to try something else and like that way best too!

I only purchase for projects so some of my practices would be different if purchasing for stash. If I were a stash purchaser I would probably wash/dry completely in the dryer. Then just smooth the yardage and store (ruler foled; comic boards; bins; whatever your system) until ready for use. My theory....you're going to have to iron again before cutting for quilt pieces so why do it twice.

Later, when I pulled that fabric for quilt usage, I would iron with steam and get all the wrinkles out. I would also use starch (which I use all the time). I use liquid sta-flo in a 50/50 mix. Let the starch absorb into the fabric for a bit then iron/press. I get no flaking using this process. Even if I end up going over the same area repeatedly. Then cut as necessary.

If you are worried about bugs from the starch, you likely will not have this issue if you wait to starch until you are actually constructing your quilt as you will probably be washing your quilt when complete.

Good luck and happy quilting.

1st off I don't wash my fabrics but I do dip them into my home-made starch solution and hang them up to dry. Then when dry I take them down to dry iron but I do have a spray bottle to mist them a little. I find they come out better if I don't use steam here but I do use steam when I'm pressing during assembling the blocks. Also when I acquire my fabrics I check them for flaws as most of my fabrics are purchased online, then I fold them onto comic book boards and put them in their proper shelf. I might press them if I find they are very wrinkled from shipping though.

You'll find some folks wash their fabrics before using, others don't. You just have to find out what works for you. I used to wash and iron mine years ago but got out of that habit because I didn't need to go thru all that work. With starching and pressing the fabrics before cutting I find some shrinkage has already taken place plus I find out if the fabric is going to bleed when I dunk them in my starch solution. My backings are the only things I don't put thru this method so might throw them into the dryer with a wet rag to help shrinkage them before use.

I iron it dry straight from the washing machine