Prewashing jelly rolls
 

I prewash my fabric to shrink before working on it, as well as to get out some of the dye. For this reason I usually buy yardage and fat quarters and occassionally layer cakes. I know that fabric shrinks more one way than the other (either crosswise or lengthwise, can't remember which, not that which way makes a difference) and that affects things. I have a pattern I want to make with a jelly roll but am very wary that prewashing will skew the fabric too much and too much will be lost with raveling so the fabric will no longer be sized the way it needs to be. If I don't prewash or presoak or pre anything what can I expect after washing the quilt the first time (in warm or hot water) after it is completed? Will the shrinking and skewing ruin the quilt? This quilt is a gift for a young man who will probably toss the quilt in the washer with everything else when it comes time to wash it so giving him directions on how to wash won't do much good. Plus I like to give them a final wash before gifting.

I rarely pre wash fabric and haven't had problems with it shrinking after the quilt is done. I do toss a couple color catchers in the wash.

I pre wash yardage and FQs, but never jelly rolls or layer cakes. I prefer to work with fabric that has been washed, but I just take my chances with the pre-cuts.

I use jelly rolls and never prewash. I think that would be a nightmare!
that being said, so far i have not had any issues with weird shrinkage

after quilting and binding i do wash. I like the slightly crinkle results

Short form: Although I am big on prewashing, I'd risk a commercial set of jellyrolls. I have concerns over where my seam allowance is on the ones with pinked edges, but honestly haven't had much experience with them.

Long Form: In all my years of quilting (45!) I've only had one project ruined by running fabric. I prewashed it but didn't check that it was fully set. It was a "quilt shop quality fabric" and it never stopped running. Started out as dark maroon, after seven or so washings it was more orange than anything else. I also used a blue from the same line with no problems. Unfortunately the quilt also had white squares, that was what was really ruined they turned baby pink with no going back :(

I've never had a project ruined by shrinkage but I have not used fabric where I was unhappy with the quality once the sizing and such was pre-washed out of the (name brand) fabric and elected to not use that fabric.

I don't typically buy jellyrolls but I do have a package of something like 10 2.5" pieces -- I'm going to do a test in my impeller (no agitator) new washing machine to see how they come out -- will just toss them in with a few towels or whatevers and see how they come out.

For me, it is not the raveling of long skinny pieces, but rather the knotting up and tangled mess that they can become, strangling other things in the process. I buy a lot of my fabric at thrift stores or estate sales and often have long narrow WoF (width of fabric) pieces -- they are by far the worst to prewash, will take a 6-10" square any day over a long narrow.

If you really want to wash the strips, I'd suggest putting just a few each into lingerie bags or pillow cases (I use my ponytail elastics to close the pillow cases). You can put as many bags as the washer can hold!

I use jelly rolls a lot for charity quilts. I don’t pre wash but I do throw them in the dryer for 10-15 minutes. It helps to get rid of the pinked edges, which are usually all over my clothes. When I wash finished quilt, I use color catchers.

It is a personal preference as to pre-washing or not. But I wouldn't wash jelly rolls because of all the reasons already mentioned in this thread.
I put color catchers in with my quilt when I wash it. And I always wash them before giving them away.
Let us know what you decide.

I've never washed jelly rolls nor had a problem with them after going into a quilt. If any doubt of bleeding I throw a color catcher in. I hope this helps.

All you have to do is steam press pre cuts to see if they will bleed and get the shrinkage out of them. Jelly roll strips will shrink only one way, by the length never the width.

I'm afraid washing in any other way than hand-rinsing in a sink of warm water and then hanging to dry is gonna result in a jelly roll you will not be able to use. Every jelly roll I've ever seen that was put in a washing machine -- even on "delicate" has been a frayed, matted up mess. (I saw at least a dozen, maybe more, working at JoAnn's -- people would wash them and then bring them back for a refund when they had ruined the roll by putting it in the washing machine.)