I presume that you wash all washable things u purchase..not just cotton fabric.....

The laundry room is right as I walk in the door from the garage, and fabric goes straight into the washer.

I'm going to not pre-wash until I have an excuse to pre-wash. I gift all quilts with them being crisp. I tell all the recipients to wash in cold, as the material has not been pre-washed. I tell them all it will look wrinkly after they wash their quilt. I've had many recipients say how soft it became once washed. Not one of them has told me that any bleeding had occurred. Good luck with your decision.

I always pre-wash. If I don't, I have a nasty allergic reaction to the fabric while cutting and sewing.

I also pre-wash/dry fabric in case there are bugs or bug eggs that may be clinging to the fabric. A store can be clean and tidy and show no evidence of bugs/pests, but the fabrics traveled a long way before it got to the store. It could have picked up undesirable passengers on the way. Lastly, I pre-wash because it's very easy for a customer to transfer bed bugs to fabric while browsing in the fabric store. Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of, so why take a chance?

I pre-wash using cold water, unscented laundry detergent, no softener, on a regular cycle. Then the fabric goes into the dryer (no softener fabric sheets) at high heat as that is supposed to kill any bugs that might have made it through the washing cycle.

When it is done drying, I immediately take it out and fold it to decrease wrinkling. Once washed, dried and folded, I use a thin strip of fabric to "tie"the folded yardage, and add a label to the tie that includes the length and width of the fabric.

When I'm ready to use the fabric, I iron it.

I'm another who is sensitive to the chemicals in the fabric. If I don't prewash, my hands start to itch badly after awhile.

My 13 year old son likes pressing fabric, so sometimes I can con him into pressing while I work on more fun stuff. And the almighty dollar works as an incentive too.

Cheers, K

I am pretty strongly in the pre-wash, dye-set mode. My first large quilt (a very large queen-sized, hand embroidered quilt) with bright red borders. Before I cut the first strip of pieces, I sliced off a 1/2" wide by 6 inch long strip of the red and put it into a glass of hot tapwater, stirred it around and you could see the dye had bled into the water. Now, the interior of my quilt was embroidered on white. Had I not determined that I would dye-set the borders, that quilt could have ended up in the trash! I bought a product which I found online from the Rit Dye website, ordered it, it came by Federal Express, and the product is not expensive. I have NO financial interest in the Rit Dye company -- I just use and very much appreciate that company's product. Any color that is a vibrant color (and yes, sometimes, even black) can bleed. The dyes used today are not organic dyes. It's not necessarily that the fabric is fading, but that the dye residue wasn't rinsed out of the fabric. The first thing I do when fabric comes in the door, I will serge the ends of the fabric to prevent a raveling, stringy mess. Then, I process it so I can be very sure the fabric is not going to bleed all over the adjacent fabric!

JMHO!

Jeanette

I prewash everything but precuts when I get home from fabric shop. Everything is washed and pressed before it is put in my stash! Personal choice as I want as many chemicals out as possible.

I always prewash. Don't like the chemicals either. It was an easy habit to get into.

I have posted this picture on the board in the past. The fabric is a highly regarded quilt shop fabric. People say that new high end fabric won't bleed. I don't find any difference between old and new. Most of it bleeds. The color may be caught with color catchers, it may stop bleeding after the first wash. I don't know that unless I test in water. And then there is the subject of shrinkage, chemicals, and bugs.

I don't like risks.

I guess I'm in the minority. Not a pre-washer. Like the feel of unwashed fabric. I've had very very few problems with bleeding, even with bold colors. If it's a usable quilt (as opposed to a wallhanging), it gets washed after quilting with color catchers.