my feeling is that if the fabric is limp and flimsy feeling without sizing, why in the world bother to use it at all?

who is going to resize a finished quilt when they wash it?

that said, it does make sense to use some of these products when cutting the pieces to stabilize them for something like the one-block wonder type quilt.

It depends on the color of the fabric and what I am going to use it for. If it is for a wall hanging, I hardly ever wash. But if it has a lot of blue or red dye and I am going to use if for a quilt, I will prewash. I don't think there is a right or wrong it is up to the individual. It is kind of like pressing seams open or to the side.

I always prewash,always always.You never know and after putting all that work into a quilt and you go to wash it and the fabris shrinkl and not at the same percentages,you will be upset to say the least.Its better to be safe than sorry

If you prewash, do you have to use a spray starch or any other kind of starch? Could you just dry and iron and use?

azdesertrat

I can see the merit in your method. Thanks.

The downside I have with prewashing is the time and energy it takes. I'd rather devote that time to cutting, piecing and quilting.

I haven't prewashed fabric since taking a class from Harriet Hargrave. It saves me a lot of time, plus fabrics with the factory sizing still on are somewhat protected from sun fading. I will briefly test very suspicious fabrics (especially reds) by placing in water and seeing if any coloration takes place.

What I *always* do, though, is wash the quilt with Synthrapol once it is finished. Synthrapol suspends unset dye particles in water so they rinse away instead of settling into other fabrics. I also look at the wash water. If I were to see a lot of color in the water (hasn't happened to me yet), I would be very careful to wash again in Synthrapol until the water is clear before drying the quilt.

Thanks. I need to find out where I can get Synthrapol. I have never heard of it. Does it work for garments too?

I don't prewash...I do sometimes test for color fastness... I haven't had problems. I do prewash muslin and some of the special day fabric as this seems to be not as good as the regular. No quilt police do what you like :D

I have been Googling Synthrapol. Do you just add it to your washer load and still add regular detergent, fabric softener, and then dry?

Synthrapol is itself a detergent, so you don't need additional detergent. I do use fabric softener.

A lot of quilt shops carry Synthrapol now and it's not very expensive.

Bleeding occurs when there is excess dye in a fabric that did not get "set". Every once in awhile you might run across a fabric that bleeds excessively and won't stop bleeding. That is a fabric in which the dye most likely never was properly "set". Assuming you catch such a fabric before it gets into a quilt (usually these are suspicious fabrics from the outset, and you may notice color rubbing off on your hands), you can prewash the fabric in Retayne. Retayne is just the opposite of Synthrapol. It sets dye into fabric. You would *never, ever* want to wash a quilt in Retayne as it would permanently set bleeds. However, it's very handy if you have a beautiful fabric that bleeds like crazy. Quilt shops that cater to fabric dyers often have Retayne on hand for purchase.

Sorry if this is more info than you wanted.....