Preshrinking precuts by ironing?
 

I recently saw on a fabric for sale website to "Shrink" precuts i.e. charm packs, layer cakes, etc., by spraying with water and ironing on a steam setting. Said it would shrink them as much as washing and drying in dryer. Has anyone ever tried this?

I use jelly-rolls straight up. That way when I wash the finished product, it will all shrink the same. If I were to press-shrink the precuts, I would have to make sure and do them all.

I've always wondered if this would work.

I have tried it . It works better if you hover closely over the fabric with the iron. I experimented with some known shrinkers. Try it yourself with some cheap muslin , as I think it may vary by how much steam your iron has and how hot your iron really gets. Just a note .. when I did the "hover" method I put the iron on as hot as it would go.

I do this with my pre-cuts all the time. First I put them in the washer in a lingerie bag and let them spin, but don't put them in the dryer. Then I iron them on the cotton setting with no steam, letting all of the steam originate from the fabric. This is best for those projects where exact measurements are not critical like a jelly roll run, because some of the fabrics narrow down to less than 2.5".

I also do this with fat quarters and pieces of 2 yards or less (bigger than that is difficult to iron), because with 100% cotton the dryer tends to set wrinkles.

I used to do that to pre shrink bias tape