I have never pre-washed a single piece of fabric and have never had a bleeder. And I've made over 50 quilts. I steam iron my quilt fabric before I sew and wash the quilt after it's all done and everything has been perfect! I just don't want to waste all that time washing and all that extra time ironing it so much longer after it's been washed. I know how wrinkled a washed pieced of fabric can look like. It's not for me.

But I do have a bunch of Kona Solids and I think I will pre-wash those. When I look at those, they call out 'Bleeders' to me!

I don't prewash, just use color catchers.

I wash even with good fabric I still get bleeder once in a while. I also get some shrinkage in some fabric and not in others. I do not mind doing it and figure better safe than sorry.

A few years back, I read an article that stated that fabrics that will be used in things that will be seldom washed, such as wallhangings, don't need pre-washed. Likewise, fabric that will be used in quilts that may see frequent washings, should be pre-washed. Good idea, BUT, sometimes I buy fabric that I don't have a plan for yet. Then what? I am re-organizing my fabric, and couldn't tell on some which had been washed and which hadn't, so I ended up washing most. Tedious! Anyway, my New Year's Resolution, 3 months late, is that no newly purchased fabric, will enter my sewing room without being washed first! I also am putting a pair of pinking shears in the laundry room to trim the fabric before washing. I read a hint on this board, sorry I don't remember who posted, that by trimming the edges with pinking shears before washing, this really cuts down on fabric fraying. I also use color catchers, one of the best inventions ever! My MIL, God rest her soul, won many quilt contests, and she always washed her fabrics. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I don't use the pre-cuts either, because I can't figure out how to pre-wash them.

what do you do about the chemical in the dye? I now the new fabrics probably wont bleed or shrink but I don't want the chemical to give anyone alergy Also those quilts used as demos on utube probably never get washed or used. If you bought a child a pair of pj's would yu wash the before they wear them. If i make a wall hanging that i never going to be washed then I may not pre wash it. If it is going to be wrapped around soeone then it gets washed.
And how about the shrinkage...all fabric from the same line of fabric doesn't come from the same cotton patch and finished the same. so there could be differences in shrinkage. Do you wash new sheets before you sleep on them.
Why should quilt fabric be treated any different than other fibres we put on our bodies

I've never had a reaction to fabric that I sew with, so I guess the chemicals don't bother me. I always wash a FINISHED quilt before sending it as a gift.


OH, and I don't always wash new sheets for the bed. I know I should, but sometimes I forget.

Nope I still don't prewash unless I am using the fabric for embroidery. I just washed flannel from connecting threads and it hardly shrank a complete waste of my time. I thought it would shrink a lot because people say flannel shrinks a lot well CT flannel doesn't And I wasted time overcasting the edges, washing drying and reironing, could have just used as is

I've never pre washed anything, and I use a lot of batiks. I've even used white solid cotton with bright pink and red batiks in the same quilt and never had a problem. If a quilt does have a lot of lights in with dark colours, I do throw a colour catcher in (if I remember), just to err on the side of caution.

I wash all my quilts and quilted items once they are finished to make sure they don't run/fall apart/shrink etc before they are gifted/sold.

I pre-wash everything. It really doesn't take much time. I like knowing that the fabric won't shrink any more, and that it doesn't bleed, but mostly I like knowing that it is CLEAN.

I don't prewash. I did some laundry experiments with clothing. I washed loads with and without color catchers. The color catchers generally come out pink. But the whites in the same load always come out white with or without a color catcher. So my red shirts always bleed. My white bras don't pick the colors up. The bleeding is NOT a problem.

Same way with quilt fabric. Some fabrics will always bleed. It's NOT a problem unless something else picks it up and even then unless you do something chemically to set that dye it will come out!!

As to shrinkage, since it's not the water that shrinks your fabrics, it's actually the dryer that causes shrinkage I figure my iron is way, way hotter than the dryer so that should take care of shrinkage.