I don't usually wash it first. If I do I use a bit of detergent and wash and dry the way I would the finished quilt. I don't use fabric softener on fabric before I use it. Go ahead and ask any questions you want! That's what we're here for :)

I never wash my fabrics but if I have a very dark one that I suspect might bleed, I will take a corner of that fabric and stick it in a bowl of very hot tap water and so far, even with very dark blues they are all fine.

You say this so well. I agree with you. I use detergent, no fabric softener (in washer or dryer sheets) and iron when I'm ready to use it. Just for the record, it is not only reds and blues that will bleed. I've had yellows, greens, orange, black... You get the picture. Any dye is suspect. Color catchers are not a quilting God and fix every problem. They also aren't reusable.

I pink the edges before washing (I'm pretty sure Bearisgray serges hers) to control fraying. Clipping the corners just doesn't work for me.

If I am going to prewash, I wash the fabric just like I would after it is in the quilt. Soap, warm water and into the dryer it goes.

I do not like to use fabric softener, I do a lot of fusible applique, and sometimes the fusible doesn't stick as well to the fabric. I also like the fabric more stiff, as it cuts better for me :D:D:D

I wash with hot water, a bit of detergent, a color catcher on a light cycle. I'll pop it in the dryer if it's real damp. Otherwise, it dries as I iron it, fold it then store with the rest of the stash.

Anything smaller than a FQ (some shops I get scraps from) I soak in a tub with a bit of soap, rinse and lay on a towel before ironing. Other times, I just sort and throw the scraps in with the rest. Just depends on time and if I'm doing other fabrics then too.

I wash most fabrics, but only use a bit of soap. Its the dryer that does the shrinking.
Batiks have a whole diffenent process before I will cut them.

When I do wash, I wash just like I do any other laundry. Usually I put it in with a load of towels. I dry it just like any other laundry too. Hot wash, hot dry.

Wash & dry it the minute I walk in the door with new fabric.
I use soap and wash & dry it just like you would wash a quilt that gets daily use.

Then I never have to worry about how the recipient might launder it. Also I do many QFK so they have to be washed before they can be distributed. And QFK get heavy laundering in hospital laundry

I use to not wash but recently became a convert, don't know why. I think I like working with washed fabric better. I iron when I'm ready to sew since I use starch and don't want to invite bugs. Since I only recently started washing, I have a huge stash of unwashed, it's really getting hard to keep the two separated. I would not want unwashed and washed in the same quilt. My sewing room looks like a bomb went off. Only fellow quilters would understand.

Me either.