Fraying fabric?
 

Another member just posted a picture of a beautifully pieced quilt, and mentioned the background fabric fraying a lot. So what's up with that? I have had recent fabric purchases (from quilt stores) fray like crazy. These are from companies that are well known. By the time all is done, the 1/4" is no longer a true 1/4", but less...makes me want to zig-zag the seams, but that's not a good answer, because that adds bulk. Fray Bloc/Fray Check would be expensive.
Has anyone else had this happen and were you able to find a solution? Enquiring minds...

Ther is nothing more frustrating than fraying fabric! The only thing I have found is that heavy starching helps a lot and so does just using batiks, as I have found they just don’t fray. At the end of the day, I have not found a way to tell if a fabric will be nightmare or not, it seems that like most things in life, sometimes we just get a bad batch of something and have to decide the best way to deal with it.

I find the self colours the worst. I’ve just finished a quilt made with Kona solids and it’s been terrible,

The only time I see what I would call excessive fraying is when I over handle something (like having to rip out multiple times ...lol) or using open weave fabric such as the Japanese Taupes by Daiwabo. I am careful in my handling of these - trying to minimize pressing, I use real starch on them and shorten my stitch length considerably. Even a small zigzag would be too bulky and I agree with you that fray check way too expensive. This method - especially the shortened stitch length - works for me.

Yes! My quilting buddies all agree. I think the mills are weaving fabric looser. I wish our American Mills would come back. All the money they thought they would save by milling offshore isn’t working any longer. China has purchased all of the cotton futures and has imposed a tariff of 25% or so I heard. Fabric is now over $14 a yard. I am thankful for my stash! I am using a lot of Best press which helps and am thinking I need to try Fray Check.

I don't notice any difference between now and when I started quilting several years ago. Coarser fabrics fray more readily, and I'd say some Moda fabrics are the worst I've dealt with, particularly the Bella solids and a Betsy Chuchian(sp?) line I purchased. But everything frays, it's the nature of woven fabric. I try to snip fraying threads as I go along.

I have learned that cutting on the grain can make fraying worse in some fabrics. I now will cut my pieces slightly off grain if I notice a fraying problem.

I've not noticed a difference, but then I rarely prewash unless a fabric doesn't pass the "white paper" test--where you rub white notepaper on the deep color and if no color on the paper = no wash. that leaves the sizing in and keeps the fraying to a minimum. Yes it might shrink--but most quilt shrinkage is going to happen because the batting shrinks usually anywhere from 3-5% (crinkley look). I'm trying to break the steam habit and use Best Press or starch instead.

In my experience it seems the higher the price, the more fraying/raveling happens. I am not a quilt shop quilter. I guess I'm still operating on the thoughts of the generations before us that anything can go into a quilt. Those women would be aghast that quilters of today actually buy fabric to cut into pieces for a quilt--and that they pay premium prices for it! I have just finished a little quilt that I found blocks constructed by my mother. There was everything in those. But the box also included a sheet that she apparently intended for the quilt. So it went, too. It is the border and the back. Oh, my--it has a goodly amount of poly in it. I loved it. I like the sheen and it hand-quilted like a dream. Thanks, Mom!

I purchase fabric from both quilt stores and the big box store and agree with Illinois when it was mentioned the higher price fabric frays the worse. I also have used various fabrics in my quilts and sometimes I purchase clothing that I absolutely love the from the thrift store and include that in my quilts with no fraying. Very frustrating when we pay upwards of $11 / yd and it frays