using flannel
 

Ok so I hope the quilt police aren't looking...I have made several (a whole bunch of quilts in the last year) and have used regular cotton fabric with fine results even after washing. But my next project is going to be made from yummy flannel (moda). I don't want to prewash...what do you think? It will be for me

What is your reason for not wanting to pre-wash flannel? Especially flannel? Flannel is the biggest culprit of shrinkage you'll find.

I'd pre-wash it ... but I pre-wash everything.

I don't usually pure wash fabrics BUT always wash and dry flannel, sometimes twice. I want to be sure that it is done shrinking before I put it on my quilt

I always wash flannel because it really does shrink.

The reason for prewashing flannel is the shrinkage factor PARTICULARLY if you mix it with regular cotton. You don't HAVE to prewash and if you like the puckered look, don't worry about it.

I'm not a pre-washer. It will crinkle, but personally, I like that look.

I'm not a prewasher but unless I'm making a rag quilt out of the flannel, I do prewash it. It seems more inconsistent in its shrinkage than regular quilting cotton to me.

Quite a while back I bought several 10-yard bolts of solid colored flannel from JoAnn's when they were having their Black Friday sale. (It was $10 per bolt - who could resist?) I decided to use some of the cream-colored flannel for the back of a comfort quilt. As always, I washed the flannel first. It felt yummy, thick, very nice - but when it was washed it pilled quite a bit. I didn't want that on the back of the quilt, so I used the flannel as batting instead. Another bolt, that I used earlier, didn't pill at all.

So... another reason to wash flannel is to see if it's going to pill.

Thanks for the giggle!

I had a friend who made a rag quilt and didn't prewash. Some of the flannels shrank more than the others after washing the finished quilt, making the whole quilt kind of bunchy in spots. I still feel sad for her when I think of that...