Okay... I'm in a quandary. I've never used a JR before... and was gifted with one that's all batiks. Nice. Hot pinks and royal blues! So I want to use the blue strips in a blue and white nautical looking quilt (reserve the pinks for another quilt-centers for a flower log cabin).

THEN, when reading the 'how to use the jelly roll' instructions in the pattern book, it says... "DO NOT WASH" the jelly roll.

Well... omg. Don't I HAVE to? I cannot put a deep royal blue batik on a white batik background and not have the sucker run should I ever wash the top. (And of course, I will have to at some point!). Batiks bleed like crazy! Even the dye grabbers don't catch it all.

Maybe I can soak them carefully? Or wash them on delicate, putting them in lingerie zippered mesh bags? (Yes, I understand that I wash one fabric, gotta wash them all.)

Why don't you wash JRs? Is it that the fabric, being so small, will shred/run, tangle and mangle? Or is the problem the shrinking?

Help!

There was a topic on this the other day. Not specific to JRs but there were folks who said that they don't wash their JRs.

I've never used them, but they seem almost too small to wash. Good luck.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-90748-1.htm

The problem with washing is that it will probably not be 2 1/2" after it is washed and dried.

I sure would not wash pieces that small, maybe soak them but I hear so many people say their batiks bleed, I've used a LOT of them and never had any problems, I am a prewasher but I always look in the washer to see if anything is causing problems.

I think you would have to just soak them and let them hang to dry because of the narrow width of the fabric.

I did not wash mine, but the project I did was all similar colors of fabric.

I would put them in a sink and do several water changes until the running has stopped, or pretreat with Retayne , using the small pan on the stove method. With Retayne its important to get the water to 140 degrees. To dry put them on a rack or use a hanger to air dry. Batiks are not prone to shrinking becasue of the hot water used to remove the resist in the dye process. I have not had a batik shrink ( and have used 100 of yards) .... but many many run particularly dark colors, and have purchased from all the manufactures , it is not isolated to any brand.
I would not use a batik with white without Retayne.

Most Batiks are very color fast, except for yellow and orange. Use a color grabber when you wash the whole finished quilt, but don't wash the jellyroll strips or you will have a mess. Only way I would try that would be to paint a thin row of nofray on all the edges first, and what a job that would be

test one of each....soak in warm water, and if it bleeds, you can hand wash them with RETAYNE. I wash jelly rolls and charms all the time...so what if they shrink 1/4", if they all shrink, then they are still going to match up!
I use a salad spinner to spin them nearly dry and then iron them with NO steam...rarely do that shrink enough to make a difference. BUT, since all the fabrics are washed, then my blocks do match up! If the pattern says your blocks should be 8.5" and yours are 8.25" what is the big deal....as long as all of your parts are the same size, your blocks will all be the same size!

batiks rarely bleed...unless they are the cheap ones from JoAnns and Hancocks as they are mostly painted and from Indonesia....

give them a test, I bet they are fine!

okay... great! Thanks! Retyne (sp... sorry) it is, on the stove method. I assume my LQS will have it. If not, Keepsake or someone online will. And the salad spinner (love it! great idea), press/no steam. Got it. And use the dyegrabber stuff if/when I ever wash the whole top... and pray, seriously.

I bought a right red Tonga Batik at a LQS and washed it, it bled but not a whole lot. The yellow Tonga did bleed like crazy.

I have a feeling that these strips are not as good a quality as the Tongas, they feel different to me. If they shrink a lot, I'll change out my background fabric to a whole piece, wash it... then cut it into strips matching the batiks for width. It's a simple quilt, and I can work the borders to fit as needed.

Just a note : when fabric is treated with Retayne ... Cold water wash once treated, or the fabric may run again. You may want t put wash insrtuctions on the final quilt in the signature/signing area.