This is my first time to ask a question so here goes. I am in the middle of making a quilt and am having problems with one fabric. I purchased it @ Joanns. It is a solid lite teal green. I cut all the fabric at the same time but I have noticed that while I am sewing it looks like the lite teal green is shrinking a little. It is really starting to mess up my project. I hate to take everything apart and replace this fabric but I know I will not be happy with the end result if I don't. I am making this quilt for hubby so I will see it alot. Has anyone else had this problem of fabric shrinking while sewing? I will never buy this type of fabric again. I have been quilting for over 20 years, I do not pre-wash my fabric but I do iron everything with starch.

Is it fraying alot? I'm gonna watch this thread as I have no idea!

If you didn't prewash, it could be that you are getting a bit of shrinkage/distortion when you iron, especially if you are using steam. I don't use steam when I iron, or I guess I should say when I press. Always press, don't move the iron back and forth as it will cause the fabric to move and distort.

I don't buy my quilting fabrics at J---n. With their prices right now you can go to a quilt shop and get really nice fabrics for the same price. They don't carry name brands.

Thats whay I'm thinking...it is shrinking with the pressing. If you feel this way about it now....take it apart and start over. Or just use what you've done for a pillow or something and start the quilt over. You'll regret it if you don't.

It's not faying. I do press alot and use steam and starch. I have never had this problem before. I bought the fabric because it was on sell. Big mistake. I will have to make a trip to LQS to find some new fabric to replace it with. It makes me sick to think about taking apart but better then live with something that I know I will not be happy with.

This is true. They claim you save with the coupon but 90% of time the fabric is $1 off so can't use coupon. Stick with the LQS and support you neighbor businesses.

The fabric that did that to me was a nice Robert Kaufman one from the LQS. That's when I decided to go back to prewashing.

are you using steam? sometimes steam can cause shrinkage. did you pre-wash?
some fabrics shrink more than others- pre-washing helps get the shrinkage out of the way before you start using it....is it cotton? or a blend?

I have had fabric shrink on the ironing board right before my very eyes. The heat and or the steam can/will shrink some fabrics. It is very frustrating when it happens as it means you are typically done cutting and now onto the sewing part.
I would abandon the use of this particular fabric as it will only continue to frustrate you in other parts of the process. Or if all the pieces are not cut shrinking it before cutting anymore.

Please, don't blame JoAnn's for everything! You may have bought a blend. They seem to shrivel up with hot iron and steam. The colors of the blends are very attractive and tempting, but IMHO not suitable for quilting.

This is in part why I pre-wash all my fabric. Doesn't go near the sewing room without having first visited teh laundry room.

Now you know why so many of us do! Even freezer paper will shrink.

If your fabric has any polyester in it, it will shrink when the hot iron touches it. If it was printed on a lower thread count cotton fabric, it may also shrink when the heat touches it. Unfortunately not all fabrics are of the same quality no matter where you buy them or how much you pay. I find feeling them and holding them up to the light helps me decide if it is a quality fabric. If they look or feel "thin" then they probably won't do for your quilt no matter how pretty.

Thanks for all the info ladies!!!

When I first really started quilting ;I bought a very pretty piece of fabric. It was exactly the right color, weight ect; but a blend. Every block [a Sampler] that I used that fabric in just never was the size it was supposed to be . The patches were carefully cut, sewed , looked wonderful,but shrank thruoghout with the pressing.

that's what i was going to say, it can be heat shrinking up the "blend"

If you were using steam or spraying with water, I would think that would cause the shrinking. I ALWAYS preshrink everything except in the case where directions say otherwise like in the case below.

BTW, did you know that fabric after washing can shrink more in one direction than the other? I had this happen with a Kona cotton solid black. I cut 9" squares for a 7" square finished block for appliquing using a special applique fiber that requires prewashing the applique pieces but not the background. When washing the background shrinks and pulls the machine applique stitches towards the underside of the applique, so it looks like hand applique. Then the block is cut down to size; hence the oversized square cut at the start.

The blocks were square after sewing the applique but before washing. After washing the blocks were not square. I would have to check my blocks again, but I think it did the shrinking on the cross grain.

Advance Warning...I did preshrink the fabric in a kit which included a panel. The panel had blocks to cut apart. The dimensions were off on the blocks after washing, and I had a lot of work to adapt the directions for construction.

I too had the same thing happen to a certain piece of fabric that I bought at the same place. I knew I had cut it rught yet after pressing, it was smaller than the other pieces cut the same but of different fabric, so I figured it was shrinking from the steam. Actually I could almost see it shrinking as I pressed it.

The shrinkage could be because the fabric is poly/cotton. Are you sure it is 100% cotton? Happened to me once. Discarded and started again with new stuff.

One more hint. If you are using teal, some burgandy's, and a lot blue fabrics, wash them as these colors really tend to run a lot. There is stuff you can soak them inand I can't remember the name of it and it will help seal the color.

I had some red fabric to do that when I was making some wall hangings and rug mugs for Christmas a couple years ago. This happened when I was pressing the squares. I couldn't for the life of me figure it out at first, then I measured the square before I sewed it with another one the same size and measured it again after pressing, tried just pressing the red alone with measuring before after pressing, sure enough it was the red from pressing it. I was sick, because I couldn't find another red in town. A dear friend was coming in from near Dallas and stopped at Abilene and picked up some more fabric for me. I have never purchased that brand of fabric since. I also had this to happen with some gingham fabric I was using in a quilt. I think part of the reason was because the gingham is much thinner fab. than in past years.
If you are unhappy with it now, you will be forever, so take it out and start over to be happy my friend.

I feel for you. I was making a Trip Around the World and one fabric did shrink with steam. I did take out all of that fabric - a lot of work but definitely worth it.

It pays to read the labels, nothing comes into my home unless it is 100% cotton, then it gets prewashed. Better safe than sorry. Yes it is a lot of work to "unstitch", but you will be happy in the long run, and thank goodness you caught it before it was finished. Just remember some deep color fabrics may run (if not pre washed) so maybe this was a good thing!:)

My thoughts for what it is worth. It is lower end quality and the fabric is shrinking as you are ironning and starching. You might consider taking it out.

I don't think it matters WHERE we have purchased our fabric. It's just that some fabrics shrink more than others. This has happened to me, but the one that was "shrinking" had some polyester (it was a broadcloth) content so it was the cotton setting on the iron was "melting" some of the fabric away and causing it to shrink. I changed my iron setting and got better results. One other thing I did in order not to lose what I had already done was: I trimmed the pieces a little smaller to make the ends even (these were strips I was piecing, so it worked)

I also hate to see Joann's get bagged - they carry all types of fabrics, to cater to all types of sewers and quilters. After many years of buying there, I know how to pick out the quality cottons - no, they are not all the same-you have to take care to know what you are purchasing and if you want good quality, stick to their higher priced brand names (not Keepsake-most of that is mediocre quality) and feel before you buy. And no, they don't have the good selection of the premium brands the LQS has, but you can get good quality for much less if you know how to use their sales/coupons. ALWAYS check the fabric content and brand name when buying off their clearance table - but sometimes I have noticed a piece of fabric will get wrapped around a plain or generic cardboard. It's a gamble unless you are already familiar with that fabric and know the line. I have purchased the majority of my fabrics there and now, always stick to the premium/designer names and go by feel as the real test. Sorry, but I like quality, but can't afford the prices at LQS (unless I get them off the sale table), and never buy fabric unless I get at least 40-50% off. The premium fabrics go on sale frequently for 30-40% off, then use my Joann's card for an extra 10% off, or, like now, have an extra 20% off everything coupon. Now, I can go buy those lovely fabrics I want and get them for 50% off. And if you can't wait until they go on sale, use a 40-50% off coupon (s) and make your own sale. There are always pleanty of them.
Sorry you had this problem, but the point I wanted to make is that not all their fabric is cr@% - and not to be put off by one piece you bought that wasn't a better quality quilting fabric.

Sorry to hear this. I always prewash all my fabric. Shrinkage can happen to any fabric, even well-known name brands.

Some fabrics do shrink with steam (or washing). I had that same problem a little over a year ago... and I discovered it when I was pressing.

this reminds me of something I learned in a stretch and sew class many years ago. The fabrics were stretch polyesters that looked like wool, linen, etc. We used a woven fusible interfacing. BEFORE we did the fusing, she had us to place the interfacing in place and set it with our hands getting it all neat and ready to fuse. THEN we held the steam iron about an eighth of an inch hovering over the interfacing and then we gave it a blast of steam without the iron touching the fabric. We could SEE that interfacing fabric draw up. We did this over the hole piece until it had drawn up as much as "it wanted to." Then we fused the piece in place. Washing the garments was never a problem with shrinking interfacings. That may be an idea that could be used in quilting. I know I use it on occasion to test the shrinkage of my unwashed pieces before I seam them.

Are you sure it is 100% cotton?
And yes if it was on cheep gray goods it will shrink more that a good fabric.... good luck but you are right to redo it now....

Re-Thinking Re-Sizing
 

I buy from Joanns and have never had this problem that I know of..lol.... will have to pay better attention...

testing adding smileys to the post
 

It could be the quality of the fabric. That has happened to me too. It is so frustrating.

Great answers you got. If you're using steam to press that would account for the shrinking. Personally I'd take it apart even though it would hurt, but when you are making it for your DH there is a whole lot of love going in there too.

I bought a Michael Miller solid black at a LQS -

it shrank over two inches in width.

I paid almost $9.00 a yard for it.

Are some of you teliing me I bought a poor quality fabric because it shrank - a lot?

Couldn't be - I bought it a a LQS - maybe I didn't pay enough for it?

Maybe it wasn't a "good enough" brand?

I find that washing fabrics before cutting them may minimize a lot of aggravation further down the road. (A bit like using seat belts MAY minimize the physical injuries in a car accident)

Really hard to know what to do isn't it. I have part washed, and part not washed in my stash. Wish I had continued on washing all of it as I had done from the start of my stash accumlination. Now I'm sort of up in the air on some of it. :oops:

Country Cotton that I bought at Joann's shrank SO MUCH I had to rip everything off and start all over. The heat from the iron (and I do use steam)and the spray from the starch was enough to shrivel it. I'll not use anything but Kona cotton from now on.

GREAT TIP I must try this on unknown fabrics. Thanks!

I never knew shrinkage could happen with material. I only purchase 100% cotton. However, there's been a few occasions when after pressing, some pieces 'looked' smaller when I knew I cut them correctly. Now I know why.

I've also never washed and dried fabric before cutting and piecing. Maybe I'll give it a go with the next quilt. Thanks for the advice fellow quilters!

I started measuring "before and after" a couple of years ago to see if it was really worth the effort of washing the fabrics before cutting them - and if I was imagining the shrinkage or if it was really occurring.

Some cottons don't seem to shrink at all.
Some shrink "a lot" - like two inches or more in width or length or both!

I bought a length of Roc-Lon tea dyed muslin that said it was pre-shrunk. In my opinion, that was an inaccurate statement. It shrank a LOT more after I was done with it!

I made some "pillowcases" for some couch cushions - one of the very few times I did not wash the fabric before cutting it - they were "baggy" when I made them. Now I need to wrestle them off and on the cushions. This particular fabric has always been washed in cool to tepid water - dried to damp dry - and put back on the cushions while damp just so i can get them back on.