Ok, so ya'll confirmed why I don't buy FQ's. I did get a bag of at least 20 of them in our quarterly gift exchange, and am washing them now. They are all small checked patterns in anteeky lookin green, red, and tans. I know I'm gonna enjoy using them on something!

I also trim the threads before putting them in the dryer.

I doubt I will ever buy jelly rolls or charm packs. Too messy, and expensive for my taste. I supose I'm a little bit anal about some stuff.

I am a pre-shrinker. Smaller pieces of fabric I usually soak in hot water for about fifteen minutes then I put it in the dryer. I have been disappointed too many times when sewing garments that haven't been pre shrunk and after the first washing just didn't fit right, etc. I would never want to spend all that time on a quilt and then have it bleed its colors.

Ditto -prewash in a lingere bag

[quote=chairjogger]

Dawn dish soap in a 6 cup glass measuring cup under the facet.. in hot water..
really does test the fabric and can see right away if it will be a problem.. some just washes out.. and clear water then is what comes after the soap is gone..

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I love Dawn and use it most of the time, but I think there is bleach in Dawn. I have had my dish clothes bleed forever and ever, even when I bleach them in the wash.
So Dawn might not be the best choice for washing fabric where you do not intend to bleach at all.

I use laundry detergent and mostly pre-wash. It depends on the source.

i prewash by hand in the sink and then iron dry. this avoids the fraying and still will shrink the fabric. I have noticed that fq's are not always cut straight so that is the reason they come out wonky. I do the best I can in cutting them but loose fabric on both ends.

If you wash and dry them loose, rather than in a lingerie bag, they lose their shape because they are so small. The warp and weft threads are relatively short, so there isn't enough length to "anchor" the weave.

They should be easy to re-true.

First make sure they were cut along the grain to start with. Pull a thread perpendicular to the selvedge on either side and trim anything that hangs over that straight thread line. Likewise, pull a warp thread from the edge parallel to the selvedge and make sure that the fabric is also true to that line.

Press lightly to get it to lay flat, then measure the diagonals. Take the corners of the shorter diagonal and give a GENTLE pull to shift the fabric back towards true. Emphasis on the gentle!

Measure the diagonals again and, if necessary, give another gentle pull to the shorter diagonal.

It is important to be gentle because it's better to have to pull three times in the same direction than it is to pull hard, have to correct that pull, then correct again. If you see what I mean.

Washing fabric in a lingerie bag helps to protect it from getting tangled around itself or around other items in the load, then getting pulled out of shape.

If I thini it's a bleeder, I will put in a basin with some Resveritol to set the color. Then I put in a salad spinner to get all the excess water out and hang to dry. Works well for batiks as well as reds and blues. Otherwise I generally use the lingerie bag method.

I pre-wash FQ's by hand too usually. Sometimes if I have a lot of them, I'll do a small load in the washing machine. Last night I was sewing some 10 inch blocks together by threes and figured it'd be easier to prewash them once I had a group. These came from a pre-cut bundle at Wal-mart's markdown area. 25 - Ten Inch Blocks.

I did say ten inch, right? ;)

After washing, they became 9 inch blocks...
Probably by the time I square them up, they will be 8 inch blocks. lol, so buyer beware. :)

Too keep fat quarters from fraying or getting wonky in the wash, I fold all edges to the inside and then fold it into a small square use a saftey pin to pin the center together, then put in a lingerie bag and wash and dry. Take out and iron. no shredded edges.
I also do this with yardage, and place pins all around the outside edge, comes out of dryer in the same shape as when you put it in washer. Just unfold and iron. No twisted fabric. The inside will be damp, so iron right away.

I just washed & dried a 5 yard piece of black fabric and it came out beautiful.

This is very interesting.....I will try this...Thanks.