Just to make sure, if you were asking about washing AFTER you cut.....don't ever do that!

Wash in gentle cycle, (I line dry everything), press, then cut.

I wash all my fabric toget the sizing out espcially reds for fading

I used to prewash, but now I don't, with the exceptions of batiks. I like the old fashioned crinkly look, so that's one reason I don't prewash. I think it's a personal choice.

I wash mine for several reason's.... first, I don't want to worry about shrinkage so I do wash them in warm water and then there is color bleeding..had some from Gee's bend that I ended up tossing as it wouldn't stop bleeding..

Also, I have alot of allergy problems and I don't like to smell the dyes in fabric so I do wash and dry all my fabric. When they come out of the dryer I fold right away. When I am ready to cut or use them they are not badly wrinkled, smell better, feel better and I can starch and iron any then.

I do not.

This is a controversial issue you know. And like many have already said it is your personal choice.

In quilting I always wash before starching, cutting and sewing. The finish on the fabrics bothers my fingertips. Must be in whatever the manufacturers are putting on the fabrics to make them look even prettier.

I have friends who don't wash their fabrics prior to sewing so that when it is washed afterwards it shrinks giving it a nice quilty look.

I just read somewhere from a lady who makes her own starch that she always washes her fabric 'before' anything else. She starches so then she washes when the quilt is done. Not everyone does this.

Suggestion: for one whole quilt wash all of your fabric and then for the next one don't wash your fabric. Maybe start out with a doll size quilt. See how you like the feel of it when you are piecing it together and then how you like the looks of it afterward. Happy quilting.

:-D

I washed some strips that I had gotten at a garage sale - they WERE 2-1/2 inches wide. After washing, they were less than 2-3/8 inches wide.

I am not a fabric washer either..I do wash red fabrics though. I like the sturdiness of the fabric that is unwashed.

Me too.