Are fat quarters and other pre-cuts pre-washed? If not, dont they ravell when washed before using?
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commercial vendors sell them unwashed, just as they do yardage.
and, just like yardage, they may fray or shrink when washed. some quilters prewash by hand. i chuck fat quarters into the washer and dryer. i don't prewash strips or charms. i would feel obligated to do it by hand and i'm just plain toooooo lazy for that. :lol: |
If they are going into a piece that will be washed several times over it's lifetime, washing is a good idea. I just put the smaller pieces, FQs and F8s into a lingerie bag and throw them into a perm press load. There is less thread mess this way.
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I had a lot of fat quarters and had read somewhere that they should be washed before using...so I did. What a mess!!!! They were all tangled together and I had a heck of a time separating them, not to mention they had to be ironed and trimmed. I'll never do that again :) I guess that's just another quilting lesson learned...LOL
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I just read somewhere that if you just pour hot water over it and wring it into a towel that is enough to shrink it. I haven't tried it, but it sounds easy enough.
I usually put them into a hand wash cycle, then into the dryer and deal with all the strings while I am pressing them. But, I might try this now that I am caught up with all the fabric washed in my stash now. |
I don't prewash unless I suspect a fabric might bleed, in which case I test it for bleeding first. Prewashing isn't necessary if, like me, you aren't allergic to the chemicals in the fabric, you like the old-fashionied crinkled look of a quilt, and your quilting lines are close together.
Quilting stabilizes fabrics and limits how much it shrinks. Harriet Hargrave showed us a quilt she made to prove this point. She used un-prewashed *flannel* (!) to make a quilt, machine-quilted it, then washed and dried it in machines. Aside from showing it to us (looked fabulous), she measured it before and after washing; because her machine quilting had stabilizes the fabric, it was virtually the same dimensions before and after washing. I personally still pre-wash flannel, but that demo caused me to stop prewashing my other fabrics. Has saved me a ton of time! |
I soak the pieces then lay them on a towel and roll the towel up to partially dry. Then I finish it up with the iron. Works like a charm.
That said, I generally only prewash if it's for a swap or if the colors are intense and I don't trust them not to run. Of course, if I start to wash ANY part of a project, I am a firm believer in consistency and I wash all of the fabric for that project. |
I don't wash mine. They just fray too much.
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What Patrice said.
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I machine wash mine on the gentle cycle, they dont seem to get tangled as much!
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