Another newbie question:

Does the heat in the dryer cause fabric to shrink or is it the process of the fabric drying that makes it shrink?

If I pre-wash small cuts of fabric in a pillowcase or lingerie bag and hang them to dry will they shrink?

In my experience it is the heat of the dryer. I have many 100% cotton tshirts that never shrink, wash after wash, but they have never been placed in the dryer...

Sometimes the fibers will contract just in response to the moisture. Many times I've taken a piece of (unwashed) fabric over to the ironing board, sprayed it with water, and just stood there and watched it contract.

I've read that the type of detergent used, and even the water quality (soft vs. hard) can affect the amount of shrinkage.

I have had the same experience, except with blue jeans, for some reason, I wash in cold, line dry and they still seem to draw up in length only. Can't figure that one out.

I think its the dryer, well my hubby used to blame me for his clothes not fitting him anymore, or was it the choc. cake???? LOL

Most of the time it's the dryer, but some fabric will shrink when it gets wet.

I line dry mine.

thanks for the great info. I am taking a class right now (6 months with a project every month) and last month I was behind and just bought fabric and didn't wash it before I sewed my project. Now I have unwashed scrapes. The big pieces of fabric I'll wash so they're in the same condition as all the other stuff in the stash.

But I have several extra unwashed strips and bits and pieces from the project that are kinda small. I'm too cheap to throw out anything that looks usable but I was afraid to mix them in with the washed fabric. I was trying to figure out how to "shrink" them without destroying them so they would match the rest.

So now another lesson learned: no matter how busy you are, find time to wash your fabric if you've decided to be a quilter who washer all her fabric! LOL!! :-)

On those pieces, I would just throw them into some really hot water and then let them air dry. If they are that small, I wouldn't think it would make that much difference :wink:

Excellent! I'll give that a try.