It's preference but I wash because of the dye and sizing residues. Not only are they a problem for people with certain breathing and skin allergies but who knows what those thigs do when breathed in. Some adhesives products for appliques don't adhere well to the reside. It's up to you. :-D :-D :-D

To add to the reasons to pre-wash, if I lived in an area with known problems with bedbugs, fabric would come in the house and go straight into the washing machine and dryer.

Anything I bought at a yard sale or thrift shop would also be pre-washed, due to my extreme dislike of finding pests like silverfish or cockroaches.

Since I pick up every bug that comes my way, anything that comes from a fabric store also goes straight into my washing machine, due to the numbers of people who may have handled the fabric.

I never used to until recently. Found that a fabric shrunk much more than I wanted. And some others bled more than I wanted also, so now just laundering when it comes in the door... tho have been on 'no buy' recently.

And washing all my previous purchased fabrics in groups by color and using color catchers.

Been really attracted more to quilts with white backgrounds etc lately and fearful of the white getting tinted with the rest of the fabric colors.

I do believe it is a matter of personal preference, but I do prefer to wash mine before I use it. I've had a couple of fabrics "bleed" onto others and I don't want to risk that when I make a quilt, especially since the majority of the quilts I make are ones to be used, loved, and washed.

I don't pre-wash fabric if it is of good quality (because I like working with material with the sizing still in it) and then after the quilt it finished, I include a "color catcher" sheet with the quilt if it is a gift with instructions to use that sheet the first time the quilt is washed. I ALWAYS wash flannel before using it. And if the fabric is of unknown origin then I wash it to be on the safe side.

sadly not bug resistant. smile

I always wash before I use material. I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've had some that ran. I'd rather find that out before I put all that work into something.

LOVE this...

Yes, it is a personal preference..you can do it now and be proper, or you can wait and then spend half you day asking what went wrong when it shrinks differently, or it bleeds, or it ravels, or it is OFF grain when you cut it...you name it...

more things can wrong AFTER the fact than before!

Personally, I wash because of all the chemicals that are on the fabric...and because of I too LOVE the whole preperation process!

Well....I have never washed prior to making the quilt. I do like the look of the quilt when it is finished then washed. I washed my bed quilt yesterday. I did throw in some color catchers, thank goodness, as they were a nice burgundy color after they came out of the wash. But, for the first time ever, my quilt shrunk big time. It does not cover my mattress now! I am just sick as this has never happened before and I didn't wash it any different than I do any of my others. These were all LQS fabrics too. I think I just became a pre-washer. :cry:

Me too !

acatually to get it into this country it is sprayed with several pesticides..all of which are known carcinogens!

so if it gets bugs...then that fabric has been unwrapped and left sitting in a moisture filled room, like most fabric stores, and the pesticides no longer work on bugs, but will still be released into the air when cut into!

Jenny Beyer fabrics come with instructions to wash before using. Go figure.

never wash first

I pre-wash everything because I am allergic to the chemicals they use in the manufacturing process. I dry on hangers so the fabric doesn't lose the sizing.

sizing is CHEAP...wash the fabric press, cut and size...simple steps to avoid major disasters later!

Look, if you want to spend your time washing and ironing fabric fine. But please don't insist everybody else has to. I've been quilting for over 10 years and I quit spending my time washing and ironing fabric. Not a problem yet.

I don't believe I stated that everyone HAS to do anything...

I have been quilting for quite a few years and working in the textile industry longer! I just prefer working properly with my fabric. I do not make quilts that take $300 in materials and $1,000 or more in labor just to take a chance on it being ruined over being LAX about how it was done.

Why can't washing, ironing, Prepping your fabric be just as much a part of the process as sending it off to be machine quilted?

I know, to each their own...but some are not taught that the fabric preperation is really an important part of the process!

Personally I felt the way you stated that, it was practically an order.

It's interesting to me that a common reply on this thread can be summed up as "I never used to pre-wash until I had a problem..."

Me too.

famous quilter Kaye England says "Why wash fabric, it isn't dirty, unless you dropped in into mud." So therefore I do not wash before using.

Famous quilter Harriet Hargrave doesn't wash hers either and gives instructions in "Quilter's Academy vol 1" to get a new straight center fold.

it's up to you.
I wash everything first.

I do because no matter how expensive a fabric may be, I have found some that run and why take chance and find out after it's finished and has ruined a quilt.

If you want to risk, uneven shrinkage or bleeding colors, DON"T prewash.

If you don't want to worry about either of these things, prewash all of your fabric.

I do not,

i wash every thing in hot water & dry on cotton... never shrinks again after that!


also, i have allergies & sometimes there are oders on fabric that bother me...

and, i work for a trucking company.. the dock is dirty, and there is dust everywhere... and fabric whether purchased at lqs or walmart has been on a dock somewhere!

ALWAYS ,not only think about shrinkage but bleeding too.

ALWAYS ,not only think about shrinkage but bleeding too.

All fabric gets prewashed-----always.