Couldn't sleep again last night. Daughter called this morn,and we talked. Reminded me by saying, hey Mom whatever happened to all the fabric you and grandma bought when she was making pillows. Hmm good question. Must be in sorage. Convinced myself to clean up and dress and take ride to storage. After searching thru boxes and old steamers trunks I could get to I found a good portion of it. Some has to be like 20 + yrs. old. Still seems in good condition. No way out smells, maybe a hint of mustiness but no stains. Apparently I had packed putting fabric ssoftner sheets in for smell control. Should I just air out itill it is used or spend the time to wash everything. It doesn't appear to have dry rotted , or do you need to wash to tell for sure? Has anyone had any experience with old material?

I would probably wash and dry just to be sure it is still in good condition before I put my time and effort into it.

When ever I consider using a piece of fabric that has "aged" I wash it the way I would wash the finished piece. If it can not "stand -up" to a typical wash for what I am making , I do not want to use it. Thats just my rule of thumb. The last thing I want is to put time into a project only to find out after that the fabric had deteriated and would not hold up in a wash cycle. I'm so not a fan of having to remember what projects to wash differnet from the others( some put care instructions on the back) but I am a cold wash, tumble dry kinda of gal.

I would wash it... the dryer sheets have oil in them, putting them next to dry fabric could leave a residue that may or may not cause a problem. Better to know before you put it into a garment or quilt :wink:

I guess I will kick myself in the butt, and sort and wash. Went to storage for half of reason to postpone my laundry doing today, and created more! Then storage reminded me I really need to clean out storage and start getting rid of stuff I no longer need, or didn't take the time to weed out to start with.Plus my DD reminded me of what storage costs me every year I postpone doing that! I guess it's time!!!

I would love to see some pics of the old fabric.

I will post when I when I clean up, and . Found some peices were I had actually started some out of, that were left over from skirts, I made her years ago, too. apparently we had an Irish thing going on!Best tho found flannel, several is still on the bolt. I got quilt backing!!! Had a christmas thing going on there I guess! I think I was going to make flannel gowns with some of those for her. Pre-trucking days back then.

I recently got some fabric out to use in a quilt, I couldn't remember anything about where or when I got it. To look at it, it seemed fine. It has been stored in a drawer in my sewing room. I thought about just cutting it, so I could get going sooner on my quilt, but decided I better wash it. It totally fell apart, it was in shreads, just desolved in the water. I am so glad I didn't skip that step and have it fall apart in the quilt. So as you can see, my recomendation is, wash first!!

I get old material from my mil because she is in her nineties and slowly cleaning out her basement. I wash everything I get from her in hot water and then I dry them.
There has only been a few pieces that I have thrown out (not cotton) because the backing was separating. I didn't even wash that one.

Yes, I would do the wash first bit....I buy vintage fabric and I always wash it before using it....If it survives the wash, it gets used.