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

It might be the quality of your fabric. I have been using a lot of RK fabrics. I spray starch some of the wrinkles and that always seems to work. I have never had "ripples" in my fabric.

I don't prewash either. I always iron with a dry iron and Best Press before cutting. I just spray, give it a couple of seconds and iron. Sometimes the surface you're ironing on can have an effect. My guild has a big board with one of those stick on covers and the fabric can look a little wavy after ironing on that.

One tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of water in a spray bottle. It's wonderful!!

I'm concerned with the term "ripples". Are you speaking about ripples when you fold the fabric and match the selvages there are ripples on the fold? If so, it's because you fabric is not straight. That problem can not be fixed with ironing, you need to straighten. As far as getting wrinkles out I use steam and I always starch my fabric before cutting to give it stability. That works for me. I never prewash, just use color catchers and haven't had any problem.

Thank you all. What I meant by ripples, was the edges of the fabric sometimes come out wavy. I'm going to give the vinegar and water a try. Thanks again for your help.

....oh, that bag of sprinkled things in fridge....memories......I still will sprinkle and bag large pieces and let sit overnight when ready for use, if they need it...usually just a spritz or two while ironing is all that is needed though. ....and no, I do not put in fridge anymore.....and no starch either....

I steam iron mine, sometimes I have to use a damp pressing cloth.

I would just wash and dry it. I always pre wash all my fabrics as soon as I get them home.

I use Terial Magic. Alittle goes a long way.

I'm with the pre-washers...if you have that much trouble with ironing the fabric smooth, it seems to me it would just be quicker to throw it all in the washer, get the sizing, etc. out of the fabric, throw in the dryer so any shrinking that's going to be done is over with. After drying, or even before it is quite dry, remove and press. Of course you can't do this with tiny precuts, but I even wash fat quarters. I use my quilts, so they will eventually get thrown into the dryer. I want any shrinkage to occur before I cut the fabric, not after it is in the finished quilt.

Remember the days of metal sprinkler caps with cork around the neck to fit tightly down into a bottle. I spent many a day spreading out all the cotton clothes, sprinkling them, rolling them up and placing in a plastic bag and then into the refrigerator overnight. Now I spritz fabric, roll it and let the water soak into the fibers and then iron.

Most important tho, is to let the fabric cool before moving it on the ironing board. Takes longer and this impatient gal
has to bide her time but it seems to help. If you move the fabric while it is still hot the wrinkles just rebound. Learned that from a you tube video of one of the younger men quilters. Can't remember his name.

I steam iron my fabric before cutting if there are deep wrinkles and creases and steam iron the cut pieces for deep wrinkles before attaching them if necessary -- wonder why your fabric tends to ripple??-- good luck!!

I do not pre wash. I do heavily starch my fabric with 2/3 Sta Flo to 1/3 water. I put the fabric in a Zip Lock bag and place it in the freezer or refrigerator, usually overnight. I almost never have trouble getting out wrinkles with a dry iron. If I do, I use a spray of Best Press on the wrinkle.

Some of the new irons do not get as hot as the older ones. I have heard this from more than one person. One lady said she bought an older one from the Goodwill because hers wouldn't get nearly has hot. I have an older iron, and from 1 to 10, I only set it on #5 because it is very hot!

when I wash new fabric, I put it in the dryer for just 10 minutes and then iron it, I never have problems with wrinkles

The selvedges tend to shrink differently from the fabric. Even if not prewashing, ironing with steam can cause the fabric to shrink slightly (but not the selvedges). This is why you need to cut the selvedges off!

Fabric shrinks differently when washed by itself vs being washed in a quilt. The quilting stitches make the 3 layers of the quilt "as one", with batting limiting how much any given fabric can shrink. In other words, with moderate quilting, batting will not allow fabric to shrink more than it does. This does not apply when quilting lines are far apart -- such as 10" apart -- because within that 10" a fabric can shrink more than the batting. When quilting lines are 5" apart or closer, I have not seen any problem with fabric shrinkage even when fabric was not prewashed.

A little tip, if you put vinegar in the water helps to keep irons free from mineral build up while using steam.

I agree! New irons are wussy. Bought an older GE Made in USA iron at a church rummage sale for $3 and LOVE it!

Better late than never, I need to do that to see if I can get the yuck out of iron. It's fine if I have it just on steam but if I push the button for a burst of seam (just found out) some rusty looking stuff comes out on my new WHITE material GRRRR

Its nice to see others remember dampening the clothes and putting in the refrigerator or the metal cap put on a pop bottle to sprinkle the clothes when ironing. I use Best Press now and it seems to work great

I sew little dresses for charity and have found that pressing with Magic Sizing will flatten most center fold creases and any other creases. Or if you do wash the fabric, use Magic Sizing to iron it and it will have the feel of new fabric.

These sprinkle caps are still sold through The Vermont Country Store, although they are plastic now.

I spritz (or sprinkle) the unwashed fabric, let it sit for a few moments to absorb the water, then iron. For large pieces of fabric, I, too, spritz, refrigerate overnight then iron. For really stubborn wrinkles, I use Magic Sizing spray. I am a confirmed non-washer (unless it is a red, black or navy fabric).

So far I haven't seen this response here, (and I could be waaaaaay off) but it almost sounds like you have a "very" hot iron and a fabric blend of some polyester or acetate, perhaps mixed with cotton???

I typed "very" as it's waaaaay too hot for a blend but not for 100% cotton. You might need to do a fabric "burn test" to determine what it is. Carefully... try... http://www.fabricmartfabrics.com/Burn-Test-Chart.html
If I'm not sure, I usually do the test to determine animal (wool); vegetable (cotton) or man-made (polyester, nylon, rayon, etc.) although ironing, I can usually tell from the "smell".

Cotton wrinkles should come out with a hot steam iron. Perhaps a little fabric finish will give the cotton it's "hand" back.

But to be sure, I WASH EVERYTHING; iron; and spray with fabric finish (not starch).

Good luck.