I don't wash mine in the washing machine. I just wash them in the sink with very hot water; no soap. I then squeeze out the water (try not to wring them out) and put them in the dryer.

This will preshrink them, and you will see if you have a fabric that bleeds. I use Retayne if I have one that won't stop bleeding.

I also soak some of my fabrics ahead of time if I think there may be a problem. I found some really nice plastic bowls at my grocery store for about $1 after Christmas. I think they used them to make up fruit bowls for sale and then put them out cheap to move them. I have a white one and a green one. My DS has been known to tell his Dad that the upstairs bathroom looks like a science lab at times.

Since I usually buy large cuts I wash several like color ones together, dry each piece - 4 yd.s separate for 1/2 hour each, so they won't get tangled. I then fold them using a ruler and seldom have to press them.

I wash a load of similar colors at the same time and throw a color catcher in the wash. I so far have not had a problem with colors running amongst the fabrics.

Cheers, K

why not take an old pillow case and sew a zipper in the end and save yourself some time in the long run

I wash my fabric in buckets of hot water with wool wash to allow not only shrinkage but getting rid of lose dyes. I usually put them in by colors and leave them in the water for about 10 minutes. Any thing that is still bleeding after that time I spin out the water and add to clean with salt and vinegar and leave it for at least 30 minutes or until the water goes cold. It works every time --SO FAR. Why not give it a try then your mother wont be able to complain. I then hang them on the line to air dry.

I am astounded at the work so many of you do! And I thought my routine was long.

1) I run all new fabrics thru very hot water, keeping like colors together (I use plastic tubs, like those pink things you get from hospitals). If something runs (and yes, about one in 5 or 10 does) I pull it out and redo it with salt in cold water, and since I wash all my quilts when they are done I know that there is no "running" problems. Early in my quilting experience I used color grabbers (when my quilt ran terribly) and I put the quilt through the wash, with grabbers several times before the color bleeding was really low, so I don't think color grabbers are the best answer. I still keep some handy for emergencies, but not for new material ones.

2) My new front loading GE has a rinse and spin cycle (must be for quilters!) which takes 12 minutes.

3) Then the fabrics go into the hottest setting of my dryer (to make them shrink if they are going to), but I get them out before they are dryed out of their minds, fold and put away in my stash.

4) I never have any problem with fraying!!! Why would anyone put new cut fabric into an agitating washer??? Even finished quilts should not be treated this way unless you have a gentle or hand-washng setting, and even that's iffy. The thought of presewing edges just to prewash them is weird to me. It has to be more time consuming than simply pushing them up and down in very hot water with your hands for a minute and then letting them soak.

5) Am I missing something here? In rereading this it looks a bit rude, and that's not what I meant to be.

It all seems to come to what people are comfortable with (and don't mind) doing - or not doing, for that matter.

I think the "ideal" fabrics would:

be colorfast - have no excess dye in them to go on to other fabrics

would stay the same size as when purchased

would be printed on grain and processed to maintain perpendicular grain lines

would have minimal fraying/raveling

not have any chemicals that trigger allergies

And all this - straight off the bolt!

So far, most of my fabrics have been relatively "good" - once in a while I get a stinker - and some of the stinkers have been the highly touted LQS fabrics.