washing a table runner
 

I washed my table runner in the machine on normal and dried in the drier. Now it has that wonderful crumpled look that is great for quilts, but makes the table runner not lay flat anymore. How do you all wash the wonderful table runners that you make. I love making and giving them for gifts, but want to be able to tell the new owner how to wash. Thanks for your help

I wash mine in cold water in the machine then put in the dryer for about 10 minutes, take it out damp and flatten it with my hands. Keep coming back & smoothing it out every time I think of it. I have used a warm iron sometimes but be careful depending on what batting you used. I usually use something like insulbrite or needlepunch and they have poly in them. But I do find they lay flatter once washed than the cotton battings. HTH

I pre wash the fabric, so there will be no shrinkage and use a flat poly batting, like Thermore. Wash, cool water, then dry flat.

I always hand wash them in cold water and just fluff on no heat in the dryer.

When I want to make a runner than will lay flat after washing and drying ... I prewash and preshrink both fabric and batting( warm and natural preshrinks really well) . I also like to put a layer of interfacing in the sandwich between the backing and the batting. It give it just that extra bit of body and stiffness I like in a runner. Just make sure you buy interfacing that is made for clothing , not craft interfacing. Clothing interfacing will be 100 percent polyester and contain no rayon or viscose which can shrink.

Ditto for me! I figure it isn't all that hard and comes out so much nicer.

I also dunk the interfacing.

I wash all my fabrics, and for table toppers and place mats I shrink the batting by soaking in hot water and then dry in the hot dryer. (easy to do for smaller pieces) I also quilt the heck of out both the toppers and the place mats so that when they are washed and dried in the dryer, nothing budges. They are quite stiff, but I don't mind, and mostly they don't even see an iron.

That's exactly what I do too! Just bought more thermore for more tblrnrs.

Thanks everyone. I'm not sure if I preserved the fabric and I'm sure I didn't wash the batting. Will try that for the next one and I won't put it in the dryer. Even though table runners are small, they still take me a long time to finish and I don't want them to be a one use only item.