Should I pre-wash fabric that I plan to hand-embroider?
 

I am in the planning stage for a family tree quilt, and intend to hand-embroider each ancestor's name on a fabric leaf, which I will then applique to the quilt top. I would prefer not to pre-wash the fabric, but I am concerned that the embroidery will become distorted if I wait until the end and wash the completed quilt. To add another wrinkle (no pun intended), I am considering using charm packs, and cutting each leaf from a pre-cut square. Am I asking for trouble if I pre-wash a charm pack? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

The finished quilt will look something like this, if it helps to visualize... https://www.etsy.com/listing/9761983...ef=favs_view_4

If you felt that you have to wash the charm pack, I would hand wash them. Do you have one of the netted bags?? If you do, you could put them it in the dryer. I would then spray starch them so they have a little stiffness in them.

Can second the use of starch - i use to be so keen to get my project on the way i would try to avoid all the prep, however I get better results when i take the time to prep and highly recommend starch as it make fabric easier to deal with when applique is involved.

I don't know about the new stuff, but the old embroidery floss shrinks in the dryer, and puckers up all that beautiful handwork - ask me how I know! Seriously, I would at least swish all the charms around in warm water, maybe twice to get any sizing out, then dry them damp and iron them on hot to get all the shrinking done ahead of time. I wonder if you can pre-wash the floss? Or is the new floss pre-shrunk?

This is an interesting post. I haven't done any hand embroidery for years as I have arthritis in my hands, but I'm finding that a fish oil supplement (about 3-4/day) seems to help. I'd like to try it again, but I don't want to make something and have it ruined by washing. Maybe pre-make a couple of sample blocks, trying different ways of prep to see how they do.

Not only prewash but test your thread also. I just made an embroidery quilt using various colors in pearle cotton. The red ran. I had to redo two panels with red. It was DMC brand pearle cotton #5 from Jo Anns.

As it is going to be a heirloom hanging I would definitely prewash and wash a sample of the thread. People in the future will want to wash it.

I have pre-washed embroidery floss before. To keep it from tangling, I threaded it through some plastic canvas, swished it through hot soapy water, rinsed and hung it up to dry. (Shame on me but it's still on the canvas. I have a pattern for a redwork quilt and didn't want the floss to run. Someday, sigh.)

I hadn't even thought of the possibility that the floss itself might shrink; I'm glad you put that issue on my radar! I don't know whether the floss is pre-shrunk, so I will have to look into that. I will heed your advice to make some sample blocks using different methods to figure out what works best-- that will probably be the best way to go about this.

A good point-- dark on light may necessitate pre-washing anyway. I was planning to machine appliqué the leaves.