Question for those of you who prewash fabric
 

Hello. Is there a way to prewash fabric by hand or is it better by machine? Just curious. Thanks!

I have. I did it the same way as you would do delicate clothing.

I wash yardage in the washer and precuts by hand.

I just throw it in the washer with hot water and regular cycle and dry it on high. I want it to do whatever it's going to do before I use it in a quilt. I don't like to baby it.

I also throw a color catcher or two in the wash so I can see if there's any bleeding.

This is my method too, except in the rare case of using a precut, I wash by hand and air dry on a hangar to minimize fraying.

Thanks so much!

FQ or larger go in the washing machine. Anything smaller - which I generally don't purchase - I just don't bother.

I wash a lot of fabric, especially small pieces, in the bathroom sink.

I toss fabric into the washer when I bring it home ( if I'm going to prewash it) then into the dryer. I don't prewash everything, I prewash if a fabric feels funky, smells funky, is loosely woven or might bleed. I feel to deal with any of those issues the machine is needed. I do not prewash precuts, if I had one I worried might bleed I would check it ( by hand) if it was a bleeder I just wouldn't use it except in a project that would not be laundered.

If it is a lot of yardage, I cut it into smaller pieces in sizes that I need before washing it.

I prewash everything before I store it. Like colors together, gentle cycle (reduces fraying), hot water (maximizes shrinking), no soap (not necessary), no dryer sheets (they interfere with the bonding ability of fusibles if I decide later to use them), and then just fold for storage. I don't iron until I'm ready to cut for a project.

I've used this system for over twenty years with no regrets at all.

I wash and iron every piece of yardage before placing in my stash. I rinse with vinegar which is suppose to help fix the color. Rarely do I have a problem bleeding except for red, which I usually wash twice.

When you prewash, most/all shrinking and bleeding has already happened and there shouldn't be any surprises.

I prewash all of my fabric in regular cycle in warm water and then hang it outside on racks to dry. I come into my house from the garage and have to go thru the laundry room so that is where I just drop by fabric and put it in the washer as soon as I have time.

This is the way i do mine also.
Rollin a towel dry with dry iron
Gale

I agree with every washing quilter. I hand wash the jelly rolls gently and hang them up, then the charms and fat quarters go into large "hand washing" netting like bags that I purchased at WalMart (into the washing machine)and then I lay them out on a netting square (that is usually for sweaters) and pat them down and then iron them when I am ready to use them. All the big pieces are put in the washer with the delicate/warm cycle and when finished, put them in the dryer on low for 10 minutes and then hang them up to finish drying. What made me begin this (especially from the Quilting Board Smart ladies) when I had an allergic session after cutting out a batch of fabric (eyes watered, hands itched and heavy duty sneezing) when I first started quilting in 2011. From that time on, the fabric goes directly to the laundry room to be washed, dried, and folded up on styrofoam card boards, ready for me to use when I need it. Hope this helps someone.

I wash all fabric in the bathroom sink or bathtub, depending on yardage. I use hot water, let it soak for a while, change the water until it is completely clear. I then hang it on a line to dry. No fraying, no wrinkling.

I wash yardage in my washer and precuts by hand.

I cannot imagine washing fabric in the bath tub. Of course, I have a bad back, so it would be impossible for me. Even before the back issues, I serge the cut ends of the fabric (for yardage) and wash it in warm to hot water, a little soap (not much) and dry it in the dryer. I iron all of the fabric at one time. I've had problems with several pieces of fairly expensive fabric, but especially the reds. The first time I encountered the "bleeding" problem was in 2010. I was making a whole-cloth embroidered quilt with red borders. The red fabric bled rivers, even after I washed it. I've tried all of the home remedies, vinegar, epsom salts, etc., and none of that worked. The reason for that is that the dyes used today by fabric manufacturers is NOT organic, it's totally chemical; therefore, the organic remedies just don't work. Also, another reason for pre-washing everything is shrinkage. Cotton fabric will shrink. Obviously the more expensive fabrics should shrink less, but if fabric is going to bleed or shrink, I'd prefer that those things be brought to light BEFORE I start cutting out a quilt. Also, discretion is the better part of valor, so when I wash a quilt, or a recipient of one of my quilts does so, I use and advise my quilt recipients to use Color Catchers. If I have a fabric that bleeds, I treat it with a laundry treatment which is a dye fixative which almost always works. Even after the fabric has been treated, I test it to make sure it no longer bleeds. If it does, I don't use it. I cannot afford to have a quilt be ruined by a bleeding fabric. We all put too much time planning, and expense in making a quilt to have that quilt ruined by a bleeding fabric. I know that treating a fabric that bleeds is a lot of work, but I'd rather spend that time and effort on treating the fabric, than spend it making something that might be ruined in this manner. I wash everything because I want the shrinkage issue resolved before rather than after I've done all that work. JMHO!

Thanks again for the lovely advice!

This is exactly what I do too, except that I do add some soap to the wash. I figure it might help get some of the chemicals out. Like someone else said, I don't plan on babying the quilt, so I don't want to baby the fabrics along either!

I try to only damp-dry the fabric in the dryer and then hang it for that last bit of drying. If I completely dry it in the dryer, I seem to end up with creases that don't want to come out with the iron later. But if I hang it up damp, it dries much flatter.

I agree with everything!

I have had at least one bleeder from every color family.

I like to wash when I bring it home as there are many chemicals in it especially formaldehyde, I have a rotary cutter with a pinking blade and to trim the edges prevents lots of fraying I do use the washer gentle cycle --hot then hot dryer I remove from dryer immediately fold and do nothing else until I am ready to use it I have not washed anything smaller than charm packs but anything from quarter yard down I hand wash and air dry

I don't wash the fabric; I just plunge it into hot water with appopriate color catchers, let it soak, and spin it in the washer and then into the dryer.

I prewash all the fabrics I'm using for a quilt altogether in a RETAYNE hot water wash and then put in the dryer, as per instructions on the bottle. I've always had good results with no problems of fabric bleeding later on. I measure before and after washing & drying and note shrinkage differences in each piece. Even the same complete line of fabric will shrink differently and I don't want the 'pucker' look after laundering. It's just a routine for me.

Before washing, I will run a zig-zag on each cut end of the fabric so that you don't get all of those strings tangling up the fabric.

The main point about "pre-washing" is to get the fabric wet and into a hot dryer. It is the heat that makes it shrink. Having said that, I will wash with a gentle cycle, in hot water and a little bit of soap (because that is often when the fabric will bleed with soap) and the darker the fabric the more color catchers I will put in the wash (2-3 if the fabric is really dark like black).

I then put it in a hot dryer and pull it out as soon as it is dried.

I fold it the length of the fabric in half and then in half again, and then make the first fold down about 12 inches and keep folding over itself until is completely folded up. I like to do it this way, as you can unfold what you need without having to unfold the whole role of fabric each time. Put another way, if you have 3 yards of fabric, but you only need 1 yard, I just unroll one yard, cut it and the fabric that is left is still folded up. Before I started doing it this way, I would have to unfold the fabric and then just leave a big pile of fabric that I need to refold when the project was done. With a big project I would have a haystack to refold.

I wash my yardage in the machine and precuts by hand.

I have lingerie bags to throw smaller pieces in. I have stapled the ends of long strips so they don't tangle then throw into the bag.

I use the hand-wash cycle without detergent. If you don't use detergent you can just put the fabric through the rinse cycle. I make little cuts along the narrow strip and it works wonders for eliminating the shredding. I do all of this mainly for shrinkage -- I have written this many times here, so ladies bear with me once again -- the shrinkage occurs because of the pounding in a hot dryer. Not in the temperature of the water in the washer. I consider shrinkage a real enemy of a quilt. It pulls agains the threads and wears much faster. Of course for you ladies who make those beautiful quilts that will never be laundered, no need to pre-wash. Mine are used hard!

I don't baby my fabrics. I figure that I have paid for quality and I expect it to hold up under laundering. When I bring home my fabric, I wash it just as I would my clothes. I toss it into the dryer on low heat and use the cool-down function. I DO use color catchers and I wash like colors together. I damped before I iron and have had no problems with wrinkling. Only then do I fold and store my fabrics.

I don't make more work for myself. I do the same thing. I do wash everything though, bits in the sink and fat quarters up in the washer. I don't take any time to figure which does or doesn't have to be washed. I just do it all, simple and then I don't have to worry about it.
peace

I wash all new fabrics by soaking them in hot water in the sink and hanging them to dry. I do it this way because I hate strings. I do a lot of recycling and those get washed in the washing machine before I cut them into fabric lengths. Everything 1/2 yard or less gets ironed and folded on a 5X5 cardboard. Larger sizes go on a 12X12 cardboard. Really big stuff is folded normally.

I prewash all my fabrics as I bring them home. I always wash in machine and dry it. Before I start cutting I want to make sure it will be okay. I only buy fabrics that feel good and have not bought any inferior fabrics yet.

What about air dry for dryers that have this feature? do you think that would contribute to shrinkage?

I think it is important to minimize agitation when washing fabric - because that is what makes it look used/worn.

I usually soak my (like colored) fabrics in hot water in a bucket or a sink or a pan - before giving them a short, gentle wash by machine with very little detergent. They get rinsed in cold water and dried.

I can fake/set my old (er) washing machinei into just soaking, rinsing, or spinning.

I just throw the fabric in the washer and then throw it in the dryer. As one other person wrote,she doesn't baby it. Thats the same thing I do. Quilts are items that need washing,better to find out if the fabric doesn't wash well before using it.

I use a plastic dish pan sitting in the kitchen sink. I have a HE washer and don't trust that there would be enough water in the tub to wash the fabric evenly. The plastic tub method also allows me to rinse as many times as needed.