The pinking shears have worked great for me.

I know you said you only have a regular sewing machine. Does that mean no zigzag stitch? If you do have the zigzag then do that on the edges and you will not have a problem. I always serge my edges and then wash it when I get home that way when I'm ready to use it it's ready to go.

Just clip the 4 corners of your fabric and no more raveling./

I prewash all my fabrics. I sometimes have a few threads to trim but not much if I have good quality cotton. Small pieces of fabric I put in lingere bag.

some fabrics from LQS also fray. a lot.

some fabrics from Hancock do not fray.

Thank you all for the wonderful tips! :) I spend so much time cutting the frayed ends that I end up frustrated...thinking that the material HAS to be pre-washed and no other way to do it! I even own a pair of pinking shears that my mother gave me before she passed away last year, and wondered what to do with them. (I am fairly 'unlearned' in quilting...teaching myself, with the help of this wonderful site!)

I serge the cut edges and then with the smaller size pieces I put in a mesh laundry bag. it works great also I wait until the weather is nice if the sun ever shines again in Ca. then I hang out on my clothes line, hang folded in half and hang straight and it is almost ironed when you take off the line. Then I touch up with a iron and fold again in half length wise and put on my folding sheets to store.
Also when I serge the edges I put in a tub that is marked not washed. So when the fabric is serged and folded on my folding boards I know these have been washed.
before I started this way I couldn't remember what was washed and what wasn't so when I got my cabinets to store my fabric I rewashed all my fabric to make sure.
It was alot of work but now I'm sure what's what.
kjym Kathy

I don't know why this works, but the easiest method that one of the quilt shops told me years ago was to cut about an inch wide triangle off from each corner & wash on gentle. You might give this a try on one piece and see if it works for you.

If you will cut a small triangle off each corner of the piece of fabric, it won't ravel or fray in the wash.

There is no need to go to all the bother of doing anything else other than cutting off the corner. The rest is just a waste of time.