pre-wash? Pooey!
 

I have never been a pre-washer (except for flannels), but I'm making a commissioned quilt with deep purples and greens so ... did for someone else what I haven't been willing to do for myself. I threw a white terry dish cloth in each load just out of curiosity. I did 4 loads - one of greens, one purples, one blacks, and one the purple backing. It's the backing that did the most damage. So ... more trouble? You bet! but ... can't imagine all my hard work and her hard dollars ending up like this if I hadn't pre-washed.

The picture is two dish towels - one that was washed with the purple backing and another for comparison.

Very graphic example. So does this mean you will be prewashing for yourself from now on???

Good question and probably not! I've always prewashed flannels and have done some deep colors. The few I've done with colors this deep were baby quilts so not quite so much fabric to fool with. As a general rule? Nah!

Isn't it amazing? I'm always impressed by how much dye is in my color catchers. I'm a dedicated pre-washer, myself, and sometimes I wonder if it's worth all the hassle....then I look at my color catchers and think..."yep, worth it!"

purples are tough, even when you dye your own cloth.

I made a purple and green baby quilt once. Those marbles mixed with butterfly fabric. I tested the purple/greens and... yep, they bled. I prewashed those more than once and gifted it with a box of Color Catchers.

I also found that some of this very nice fabric went a bit wonky. Interesting!

I just washed an I Spy quilt that I made with some blocks from an exchange. I always prewash my own fabrics. The color catcher came out pink.

I'm glad you decided to pre-wash the fabrics. Tell your client to always wash the finished quilt with a color catcher or two. That is what I do.

Wow.....glad I always pre wash.......

Pre-washing is purely a personal preference. However, having said that, I have always pre-washed; at first, because I was taught to do it when I learned dressmaking 40 years ago. Then, when I started working at the LQS, my boss told me about all the chemicals used to treat fabric so that insects and other vermin would not be attracted to it during shipping to the US. You wouldn't believe how sticky and nasty my hands get after a day of cutting fabric at the shop! Anyway, now I pre-wash everything just to get those chemicals out of the fabric before I start working with it. It's one of the reasons I don't normally use precuts.

I just threw away a piece of deep blue batik that my BFF had - she passed away and I got some of her fabric. I hand washed it in my pure white dish pan with just a drop of liquid soap in lukewarm water and it turned my water a brilliant blue. After about 4 or 5 rinses it was still brilliant blue - so I threw it away. It wasn't a very big piece, maybe 1/2 yard at the most - so not worth getting any of those chemicals to try to make it stop bleeding.

The last quilt I made was a deep burgundy and it wasn't prewashed. A big mistake. When I was assembling the pieces together on the machine my hands were dyed red (from body heat) and the base of my machine has red dye on it. As I was quilting it I was wearing an old pair of canvas shoes and the dye even wore off on those!
This made a pre washer of me! This wasn't "bargain" fabric, either.

I am a pre-washer. Just this week my husband got new work uniforms (he works as a fitter/welder in the automotive trade). Washed them all (and cut and hemmed the pants). After day three he had a massive allergic reaction, everywhere the fabric touched he had swelling, welts, heat and itching. As the dye didn't run I guessed it was formaldehyde. Soaked them in boiling water, rinsed, soaked in milk and cold water for 2 hours, rinsed in cold water and then washed as usual with a vinegar rinse. The problem seems to be solved.

This is the first time he has been allergic to anything, and he is as tough as old boots (the kids call him "The Machine"). So even pre-washing, for some things isn't enough.

I use a product called "color catchers". You would be simply amazed how well they work. The "sheet" of color catcher that is in the washer would look like your purple towel above and everything else - including white - would have no fading on it at all! I do no pre-wash. I use the color catcher when the quilt needs washing. When given as a gift - I include a box of color catchers with the quilt.

OK... think y'all have made me a believer.
Going to buy some of those "color catchers" then get busy washing some fabric.
Thanks!

I have not been a "per washer" until now.....to check for bleeding I would simply cut a piece of the fabric and put in a cup of hot water, if water turned color then I would decide whether to proceed w/using/prewashing or replace, but after reading about fabric being sprayed w/pesticides or whatever is used to stop "vermin" from entering the USA, I will now wash all. Taking that thought one step further....how many more things are treated for "vermin" that we purchase and are exposed to.....makes me almost paranoid thinking about it

So are you going to wash it again and see if it still bleeds?
I would. That's a lot of color on that towel.

I always pre-wash. I HAVE to get the chemicals out of the fabric before I can use it. What I have trouble understanding is this, why is it so hard to throw the fabric in the washer. It's just like a load of towels or clothes. I throw the fabric in the washer,put some detergent in and walk away and do something else until the machine is done. Then I throw the fabric in the dryer,and again walk away and do something else. It really is not that hard of a job to pre-wash the fabric. When you take the fabric out of the dryer, it's clean and soft and ready to use.

It's kind of a "On the one hand...on the other hand" kind of thing.

When I think of ALL the fabric I've washed that did not bleed, I hate to commit to prewashing. But when I think of the small handful of fabrics I've washed that bled like crazy, and the quilt I made that was forever altered by bleeding, well, then, prewashing seems not so bad!

I play it by ear and live dangerously from time to time...

Glad I pre wash!!!!

However....if all of the fabrics in the quilt are deeper, richer colors, you may not notice as much if you get a little bleeding. Mixing those deep greens and purples with any white or very light fabric is where you could have really run into trouble.
On the quilt I'm working on now, I considered doing some accent pieces in white...but almost all of the rest of the quilt is various colors of hand-dyed fabric and batiks. No way will I flirt with disaster by adding whites into the mix.

I always Pre-wash.

Some fabric fades or bleeds &
some Shrink.

Tooo much work to have a puckery off-colored quilt.

It interesting to me that it seems that the issue of bleeding fabric has gotten worse not better over the years . There was a time I did not prewash and had no issues. Now I pre- wash because its seems there are more fabrics that are bleeders than there was years ago. Way back when I first started sewing .. red was always a highly suspect color... so we prewashed any red fabric.

I agree Lori S. There was a time when fabrics didn't bleed like now.
It's not that I mind washing the fabric OR that it's trouble. Knowing I'll have to iron that fabric to make it ready for quilting is what has been holding me back. OH WELL... guess I'll get friendlier with the iron! ;)

This is why I always prewash, I just like all the chemicals out before I use it!!!

When I prewashed I did 4 small loads - one for each color. Then I had to cut the frays that had the fabric twisted up. (I had unfolded each piece before I put it in and each piece came out twisted from the fraying threads.) After the dryer I had to cut the pieces apart again - because of the threads. Then I starched and ironed each piece. So more trouble? Yes!

The quilt will have large sections of tone on tone cream fabric. The part that bled was the backing - I'll probably wash it again before I put it together.

Here's what I'm making: (It will be 90 X 90)

Washing and drying is not the biggest issue for me....it is all of the straightening, starching and ironing that I object to. I pre washed a few yards waaaay back when and then never again. It takes way too much of my time away from the creating, piecing and quilting. I buy yards and yards of fabric and am not willing to spend time pre-washing.....just sayin.....:) I have yet to have a regret or ruined quilt. To each his own though.

I'm a prewasher mainly because the fabrics that I used to make my clothes shrink so this ensures my new dress still fits after the first washing.
BUT.... aside from the color catchers... I use a 1/2 cup vinegar in new fabric or brights... that sets the color and reduces the fading

To stop the twisty tangle... Serge (zigzag) the cut ends.... stops the fraying that tie up your yards of fabric into masive balls of mess....

Yikes! Never through away fabric, especially batiks, lol! I make a lot of wall hangings that would rarely if not ever be washed. Anyone wanting to throw bleeding fabric away can always mail it to me....I'd be glad to pay the postage. Just can't imagine throwing fabric away. :)

When I took classes, my teacher was strict about prewashing. First soak it in salt water, then prewash and dry it in a hot dryer. A few times I had colors bleed terribly. For me mostly greens. I hate to think o all the hard work ruined if I didn't prewash.

To prevent tangling when prewashing in washing machine on long lengths of fabric, fold or fanfold in one yard or even less lengths and pin each corner with a safety pin or baste ....sure helps me.

I prewash a lot of my fabrics, if one in a project is prewashed they all are. I have had a couple of bad experiences myself, and seen even worse ones from friends, where entire quilts were ruined. it is a personal choice for sure. if a problem is going to arise, please let it be before i put all that effort and money into a project.

I'm a pre-washer. One bleeding, fading fabric is one too many...

I experienced a problem with that also but waited until the quilt was finished. It wasn't in the washing process but in the drying process that I had a problem.

I haven't been much of a pre-washer before now except on the darker colors that usually bleed. But I think I may have developed an allergy of some kind to the finish on some of the fabrics. I can get around certain fabrics in my sewing room that have a different feeling finish to them, and I itch like crazy! So they will go into the bathtub to soak for right now, as they're precut strips from a thrift store. I've wondered if I might have gotten some mites or something in with them, but I'm the only one that itches.

I too sew the ends together with a zig zag stitch across the end, sure helps with the tangling. Yes it takes a little time to rip out, but if there is fray going on, i just trim off the stitching. I hate tangled fabric.
Pre wash YOU bet I do. I have always prewashed fabric, since I began quilting, didn't much when making garments, depended on the color. Well even with prewashing (before I found out about Retayne and those amazing color catchers), about 5 yrs ago, I made DD a beautiful in my opinion queen size DWR with fabric of cream with specks of green at $12.00 a yard, for inner circle portion and same for the back. I used various shades of greens for the rings. All of the fabric was prewashed, but the first time the quilt was washed one of the greens faded in different places all over the quilt front and back. The quilt was Air dryed, and washed 3-4 times using everything I heard about to get the green spots out, but to no avail, they are still there. It has never been in a dryer. Greens seem to be really bad to bleed. You won't catch me not prewashing all of my fabrics after that incident. I was working when I made her quilt, and it took me about a year and a half to complete it. Too much time and expense spent, only to have it ruined in my opinion. I even prewash fabrics no matter the color that I have never had a problem with bleeding and am almost postive they won't bleed, but just not chancing it, rather spend a little time before all my work, than be devestated from a ruined quilt later.

It's like the leftover food saying, when in doubt, throw it out. When in doubt, wash it. When I dyed fabric for a small business venture, I washed, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed and rinsed some more, and still some colors tended to run. Love the color catchers.

Same with me- I started in the garment industry, too, so it's a natural. I'm about to start a red whole cloth quilt with a beautiful back that has a cream background with red...you bet I'll be trying color catchers, too!

I prewash and have found even some expensive batiks bleed and bleed and bleed. So, no more of those for me. For Father's Day, bought my husband two pairs of jeans (what he needed, not wanted) and could see that they probably should be prewashed. He was amazed at all the color that came out on the Color Catcher! We washed them twice and the Color Catcher picked up dye both times.

DITTO! For a brief period of time, I did the wash, starch, & press routine, but whatever starched fabric I didn't use had to be re-washed. Whole process is a big PITA for me. For quilts I do with batiks, particularly pre-cuts, I baste an inexpensive muslin all around the edges of the completed top, covering all the seam allowances (to catch loose threads), then throw it in the washer with color catchers and that has worked well for me. It doesn't take long to baste the muslin on or to remove the basting. The muslin not only catches the loose threads, but gives me some idea of how much bleeding there is.