I had a quilt that had a blue backing-washed it several time with no problem. Then one time is bled and turned the white to pale blue. Could never figure it out. Why after washing many times it suddenly bled. I use vinegar in my wash as a normal procedure as we have hard water and it helps the soap to come out as well as any orders and light stains. Worked for my grandmother and it works for me. Even showed my DDIL how to take the mustiness out of her towels.

This is indeed an example of why people pre-wash fabrics. I've had a couple projects ruined because I didn't pre-wash, so now I almost always pre-wash 99% of the time. Because we don't have our own washer/dryer, unless I have a lot of fabric to wash, I will often "pre-wash" by dipping the fabric in slightly warm water. I've been surprised by which fabrics bled and which didn't, like one fabric with a black background didn't bleed at all, but a medium green background fabric had to be washed out 4 times before it stopped bleeding. I know it's more work to pre-wash, then iron, but I usually do several yards at a time with my ironing board set up so that I can watch my favorite programs - it makes the time go by a little faster.

I am all for prewashing but have such a backlog in my fabric stash I am just prewashing as I pull fabrics for a project. Would love to get everything prewashed but it does take a big chunk of time to do this and don't know when that is ever going to happen.

I always prewash. If a fabric is going to bleed or shrink, I want to know before I put iti in a quilt.

This has been a very interesting thread for me. I typically don't pre-wash.
I'll think twice now.

If one has only small amounts of fabric - one can use kettles, bowls, or a sink to soak the fabrics in.

When you prewash do you also zig zag all 4 edges first? When I prewash I end up with a tangled mess even when I use a bag to put them in.

Those tangled edges mean one of two things... either it really cheap fabric or the cut was not perpendicular to the selvage.

I prewash everything in HOT water, dry it, then starch and cut. The one time something is going to bleed is the one time you really need for it not to. PITB to iron all that fabric? Sure... pain of having 200 hours into a quilt with darks bleeding into lights? Forever.


tim in san jose

I overcast/serge the raw/cut edges on pieces down to maybe a fat eighth - -

This is where one can use up some of that 'cheap/inferior' thread that one acquired 'before one knew better' - I do try to use a color lighter than the fabric that is being sewn on - just in case the thread may not have good manners

Well that's an excellent idea! I would be willing to do that. At least if something did bleed you haven't wasted time and $ on backing, quilting, etc. and you may be able to save the top by replacing ruined areas. I would rather do that for those rare nowadays bleeders.