Just got my Moda Jelly Roll that I won on eBay!! I bought the rest of the yardage and now I question what to do about pre-washing. The yardage I bought is brown, will it run? I can wash the yardage but what about the strips. Some of the strips are the same brown and there is a dark red. Will I have a problem pre-washing half of my fabrics? What have you all done?

I used jelly rolls and you just have to take the chance with them...don't whatever you do wash them....you'll have a REALLY big mess. LOL :) :P

Missi...I never prewash my jelly or charms....I love the crispness to them..and, they survived!!:))My mom is a prewasher...never me. Read a book where both partners in quilting both did the opposite too..one prewashed and one didn't-always. And, it was a preference to how it felt to them when they worked on the blocks, etc. Neither had a true arguement to why the one should always be done other then just a preference. I know some think it is a 'have-to' to prewash...and, that is fine...but, not this gal (I'm always cross'n the yellow line!)LOL You will be fine...and, You will LOVE the outcome and look of this jelly roll. They are so great because you have every piece of a line of a fabric run. Keep us posted on your great works over there! SKeat

I don't prewash any of my fabrics. I like the extra bit of pucker I get when I wash the finished product.

Lol* Well, I guess I'm one of the few who do pre-wash jellyrolls! Lol* It was a big mess too! Hehehe, but I always wash like colors together, so I seperated mine into color groups and popped them in with other fabric...so I didn't have 40 strips all tangled up together! Just 10 or so. Lol* I've heard you can use a garment bag to prevent it from tangling too badly though. I've never noticed any bleeding, but I'm too scared to take a chance of mixing them all together.

I'm a pretty consistent pre-washer. It's probably not going to ruin your quilt or anything if you don't though. Fabric that hasn't been pre-washed shrinks up a little...so if you are say going for a vintage/antique look, not washing your fabric until after it's made up into a finished quilt is a good way to do it! I think it probably looks better with quilts that have heavy quilting. I've also had a heck of a time trying to hand quilt fabric that hasn't been pre-washed. But if you don't mind either of those things, then it doesn't matter really, if you do or don't.

I made a wall hanging a couple of years back for DD's anniversary and did not pre-wash......to my horror the dark green fabric let go of ALOT of it's color! I then had streaks of green on my cream background and gold stars. I felt just SICK! :!: I had to work very hard at trying to get some of those streaks out and they didn't all come out. So...I will never take a chance of that happening again and I pre wash anything darker than white. :D :D :D In order to eliminate the agitation and all the tangled up mess in a washer, if you are worried about some of the colors, I would think you could rinse your darker colors in the sink and lay them on a towel to dry.

Just my 2 cents worth: I'm working on a quilt for my grand daughter's graduation. Her favorite colors are red, green and turquoise. I wanted to use all those colors in her quilt. Since her favorite flower is a tulip, I decided to use red. I ordered red hand dyed and batik 4 and 5 inch charm squares for the petals, and turquoise ones for butterflies. When the fabric came, it was so beautiful, I debated with myself whether to wash or not. Okay....I bargained with myself....try just a couple with a tiny bit of dish soap. Thank GOD I did!!!!!. The red and turquoise batiks ran a lot....the hand dyed; not so much. My background is cream so if I hadn't washed them, I would have ruined the quilt that I have spent hours and hours appliquing. I know it is a lot of extra work but I will faithfully "test wash " the fabric before using it in a quilt that I am putting so much work and love into.

Good luck :wink:

I am not a fan of pre washing myself, I use a product you can get in any wally world called a color catcher. You get these in a box in the laundry isle. After I have finished a project, I wash in cold/warm and throw a color catcher in and never have a problem with bleeding even from a dark red. They are not very expensive and work wonders.

when I have small pieces I just soak them in warm water in the sink, squeeze gently and lay them on a towel for a bit then iron, carefully, takes a while if you have a lot of peices but I've had those tangled messes before and this is much better.

Skeat wouldn't you worry about some fabrics bleeding?