stupid question 42
 

For those of us who do not pre wash-- how do you get wrinkles out of the fabric? A dry iron doesn't do it. Steam? Best press? Before or after cutting? No matter which way I try it, it just doesn't seem right. Fabric always tends to ripple. Any solutions?

I'm not sure what you mean about fabric rippling.

If I have a wrinkled fabric, I either iron it with steam or spray with water until slightly damp and iron with a dry iron. For very difficult wrinkles (such as the fold from a bolt) a light spray with vinegar works pretty well. Since the fabric has not been washed, there will still be sizing agents in the fabric that respond quickly to water.

If you are having a hard time getting wrinkles out of unwashed fabric, I have to wonder if your iron is getting hot enough.

I spray it with Wrinkle Release and toss in the dryer.

Spritzing with vinegar & water seem to help me. Let it set a while and iron with dry iron.

I would use steam or best press BEFORE cutting. You don't want to cut a fabric with wrinkles or "iron" wrinkles out after cutting or you will distort your pieces and they will not match up correctly.

I dampen the fabric, spray it with Best Press, and put it in a plastic bag for a while for the liquid to penentrate the fabric. Then just iron. Sometimes I need a little extra Best Press. I just bought some poly/cotton fabric that had terrible wrinkles in it. Some of them I can't get out no matter what I try. But washing it first seemed to really help.

I steam iron and/or use best press to get wrinkles out before cutting. Some of the folds are terribly stubborn. If possible, I align my pattern so I don't use the creased pieces.

I lay the stubborn piece of fabric on a clean towel spread across the ironing board and spray it with water until fairly well saturated. If the piece is small enough I let it hang from the edge of the board hoping gravity will help. I let it sit until partially damp and then iron, using steam.

Spritz with either Water or BestPress with a dry iron (steam does not generally work well enough for me)

Remember when we used to dampen our cloths and bag them in the refrigerator? It is suppose to release wrinkles. You could try it. I like to put some vinegar right in my iron with the water to steam material.

My best guest about rippling is that if you are dampening only part of the unwashed fabric, it might be shrinking and you are relaxing only part of the fabric. The un dampened part is still stiff with sizing.

Why don't you just wash the stuff and be done with the problem. Iron it while still damp or dry it and hand press and fold and put in stash. I don't press fabric until I am ready to use it, and I only press the amount I want for a project, the remaining fabric goes back into the stash for the next project. There are several good reasons to wash fabric before using it.

shrinking
bleeding colors
removing chemicals you really don't want to have in the fabric

for me the most important thing about washing fabric is to see how it will act in a quilt. Fabrics are different quality and react to washing and show you how well they will work.

I have washed what I thought was wonderful fabric and it came out so wrinkled and pill'd I couldn't use it. Some will fray so bad you won't want to use it. Some get rough with washing. some fade so bad they are a different color.

Washing may be step we don't like but really, it is a simple task. We don't have to beat the fabric with a rock in a stream. It also saves $ on those color catchers that seem so popular.

It also saves on heart ache when an unwashed project goes bad, know what I mean!

Just sayin'.:D
peace