Who says there's no reason to pre-wash?

.... then consider this ....

Before washing .... one metre of 60" cotton
After hot water wash/dry #1 ... one metre by 56"

With that much shrinkage, I thought I'd see what happened with a second wash/dry. No change in size.

That's one inch gone for every 15" ... hhmmm?


I bought the piece as a test for a OBW/SAW/4PP. It seemed to have a lot of fill in it and I was suspicious and wanted to know if I'd have cheesecloth or what? After the shrinkage, it's a nice tight cotton and yes, I'll probably buy the yardage.

Though if I'd sewn it and later washed .... not sure I'd be happy!


Of course, each to his/her own! :)

As a side bar ... I don't normally measure my fabric before washing. Just do it and know that all in my home have been abused and prepped!

I think some people like the wrinkling effect of the fabric shrinking. I haven't tried using unwashed fabric yet but I probably will just to see if I like it or not (but it will be for something I'm keeping for myself)

Harriet Hargrave doesn't pre-wash and that's good enough for me. Even if a quilt shrinks some after washing it'll still fit the bed.

I have always prewashed my fabric. Then I use a lot of starch. And my quilts still get that old quilt look when washed.

I thought I read in one of the stack & whack books - that you shouldn't wash the fabric before hand - I think the reason was that washing sometimes warped the fabric so it as harder to cut the stacks correctly.

Will have to reread that part of the book

I love the look of my quilts after it's been washed for the first time. (no pre-washing fabric)

I love the wrinkly and shrunk look I get from not prewashing. But I read in one of my new quilt books that the author gets a very wrinkly look by pre-washing the fabric and using 100% cotton batting. When it is washed and dried, it is very antique looking, she said. I may give it a try and see what kind of look I get.

You did. Once you wash a fabric the repeats won't be perfect anymore and it's very difficult to use it for any of the stacked repeat patterns.

It does say so ... when I did the course, I had prewashed before I knew so. I asked and the teacher said, no problem, just starch it up good. There is the risk of it stretching some, though in her view, the non-wash or starch lets the fabric slide better on top when you are stacking it. Plus it helps stabilize the bias cuts and minimize fraying.



Even if you do pre-wash, you will still get the wrinkles when you wash the quilt. The 80-20 Warm and Natural estimates about 2%. This fabric would have been 6.7% ... that's a lot more wrinkles.

As I said, whatever works for you ... works!

Yes and no ... that 60" width of a queen just became 56".

Yes, you'd make it wider ... though how much would you factor in to compensate and know you still have a usable quilt?

You washed unquilted fabric. Quilt some samples up and then wash.

You shouldn't make a quilt to just barely fit anyway. Batting shrinks too unless it's pre-shrunk. Beside even if a quilt shrinks some or even a lot it is still a perfectly useable quilt!

Pre-washing is for clothing construction!

I decided since I don't prewash to measure one of my table toppers right after I finished putting it all together...I washed it in cold water and lost all of 1/2 inch...I don't prewash like working with original sizing in fabric...Though, I recently had to wash some for a swap I'm doing and that's the rules...but normally no...Now I have to starch what I washed.

I pre-wash as you never know what kind of dust/dirt it has collected especially for those with asthma or allergies but most of all colour fastness. My very first experience of quilting - a 12 part kit Baltimore BOM by a well known company where they furnished the fabric. I quick-washed but didn't double rinse. The quilt was finished except for the binding and when being spritzed with water to remove quilting lines the colours ran! Some so badly right throught the batting and onto the backing. Bless the dear people on this board who recommended synthrapol which removed the mess and saved the day. So pre-wash and double rinse.

Is it possible that your 60" wide fabric was cotton but home dec weight fabric rather than quilting weight cotton and that's why it shrank so?

Jan in VA

I'm not really concerned about it ... wash and shrink first.

I prewash--a throw back from clothing construction days. Like hetty I had a bad experience with a red Hoffman fabric and I had washed and dried once! I always prewash.

I'm interested in this - why would that make a difference? Are the cottons treated differently? I learn something every day on this board :-D

I very seldom prewash. I guess everyone has their own way of doing things and that is the way I do mine!!!

Thanks for the info all mighty quilt Gods!

Just as a note-- many battings also shrink a bit. I always read the label when I am deciding which batting to use in which quilt. Sometimes I want a puckery antiquey look, like on my reproduction quilts, so I want the batting to shrink up a bit.

On my favorite battings, these are the shrinkage rates.

Hobba 80/20 shrinks about 3% after washing, warm or cool.

Quilters Dream 100% cotton shrinks 1% in a cold wash and 3% in a warm wash.
Quilters Dream poly shrinks only in warm wash, 1%.

Ironically. Quilters Dream Wool doesn't shrink. Go figure.

I used to prewash-spent hrs ironing wrinkles out.the qtys I buy I would never be able to sew if I had to wash it all 1st.knock on wood-I have never had a problem because I did not prewash and saved a lot of water,time and effort

It's very possible they are treated different if it's a home dec fabric. Home dec fabrics aren't necessarily meant to be washed. It might have been a dry clean only fabric.

lots of people don't prewash for lots of reasons. you have to do something to the ends so they don't turn into a thready mess.
you have to separate colors to avoid bleeding or use a color catcher or synthropol. and then you have to fold and press.
sad to say, there are no shortcuts that i ever found to work.

others prewash because because fabrics are not woven to the same thread count and will shrink unevenly. if the colors are going to bleed let them bleed now. if the fabric is going to end up limp as a rag let it happen now. if the fabric has been exposed to harmful chemicals (they are) not everyone wants them in the sewing room. fabric is manufactured in 3rd world countries and brought here. what else came along for the ride?
also, i recently was given fabric that i thought wasn't good enough to use, but after prewashing, it shrunk in and got tighter. so, fabric that i would not have used before, i was happy to use after washing. score one for me.

i'm a firm believer in prewashing. i want to know how much fabric i really have after shrinkage and warping, even if it means more work for me now. as for the 'wrinkly look', batting shrinks enough to get that look anyway.

Yes, that's how I get the "antique-y" look of my quilts. The Warm & Natural I use does shink slightly, just enough to give it that "used" look.

I thought I read that too!!!
No prewashing for OBW

what a lot of discussion this topic always generates!! I never prewash as I like the fabric as it comes off the bolt. I always wash my quilts when they are finished, and have never had a problem - some of the fabrics don't even wrinkle up all that much - depends on how much quilting. It really is a personal choice, and I can't see the point of washing all the sizing out and then starching the hell out of the fabric to make it stiff again!

ohhhhhhhhh.........as a past 4-Her, being taught to pre-wash fabric before making clothing and whatever else, didn't change for me when I started quilting. Old habits are hard to change. But I also learned something else. I buy most of fabric at quilt shops, so I do buy quality stuff, fat quarters and larger amounts. My third quilt I completed 8 years ago was for my daughter and husband. I prewashed all the fabrics, a navy blue (Nancy Crow), a bright yellow, white fabrics with scrappy blocks (misc scraps from 20 years of sewing and quilting). Used a marking pencil made for quilting to mark personal design long-arm quilting on borders. Once LA quilting was completed, put binding on and did a final washing before it was given to the kids. My mother was just sick, when she pulled it out of the washer.......the blue ran, ran, ran...the yellow ran, ran, ran. And to top it off........the varigated thread (high-end)purchased at a quilt shop also ran for all it was worth too.........My mom felt so bad, because of the work I had put into, and knew that I had washed everything before hand, and also knew that I had hand washed in kitchen sink (HOT water) the "blue" before I put it in the washer for a general wash. As you can tell I was't taking any chances. Well even after that, it still ran.

Yes, we don't like the threads from the fabric after a washing, but my cure for me, is to only "fill" in hot water, run on gentle cycle, and "spin" twice. It cuts down on the threads that we get. As to the fat quarters, and I just also include doing this for the Jelly rolls, I wash in hot water in the kitchen sink or very large bowl. I have found that using my spagette spoon for stirring helps "stir-out" any color that might be left on them. You will be surprised how many times it will take to hand rinse before the water is clear. then I run on the gentle cycle in "spin" mode.

I have use the "color catchers", and believe they work really well. I even include a couple when I've given a quilt to someone with explanation of use. Was told if I had use this for the kids quilt, in the pre-wash stage, may not of had the running of fabrics. Course they had just come-out, so I hadn't heard about them till after this had happened. I now use the "color catchers" when I pre-wash "all" my fabrics whether for quilting or clothes. Then I press them with my iron and starch as I am working on blocks.

Hope I helped someone with my 30+ years of experience with fabrics.

^^^5's from a Canadian past 4-H'er :thumbup:

Any others here with green blood? :) :

That's because the batting shrinks.

On a different note, I want to point out that fabrics that are washed will likely shrink a lot more than fabrics that are not washed but heavily quilted into a quilt. Quilting stabilizes the fabric to the batting and backing. A fabric that would otherwise shrink more than the other fabrics in a quilt will only shrink as much as the quilting permits. That's why, for example, people like me who do not prewash fabrics don't see horrific amounts of shrinkage in finished quilts. I just adjust for shrinkage of the batting (about 3% in the all-cotton batting I use), as this is what will control shrinkage of the fabric.

I use to never prewash UNTIL a lady gave me a quilt top she has been working on and got tired of. It was a complicated design done in black and white. I finished it and then washed it using one Shout color catcher and cold water. She had told me she had prewashed the black. When I opened the washer, I was shocked. I had a dark grey and light grey quilt and it was not pretty. It was ruined. It looks like it is about l00 years old but in my eyes it is ruined. Now I test all material and then wash it before starting to sew.

ME! ME! DH and I are still involved in 4H.

BakerMom .. Way to go on still being involved. Are you both leaders? what type of clubs?
American or Canadian 4-H?

Pre-wash for me! Don't like the chemicals. Plus great check for colorfastness! To each his own~

I always prewash all my fabrics in warm water, dry on regular, no starch, ever. I always use Polyester batting and I wash it as soon as I hand sew the binding to the back, then I use warm water and dry on low.
This works for me.

It is important that everyone do what they like and what works for them. No experts here nor quilting police.

I always prewash my fabrics.

I also am an old 4-Her. It's funny but my husband asked me the other day if I knew what the 4 H's stood for, with out even thinking I was able to tell him. I also prewash. So some things just stay with you no matter how long ago it was learned. I love the fact that we use our old ways and still put the new ways to work. Like alot of people have said, you need to do what works for you. I remember a long time ago after I got married, my mother was over at my apartment. As I was cleaning the sink, she said "That's not the way to do that". All I said was that it may not be the way she did it, but it was the way I did it and the results were what I wanted, A Clean Sink. Brenda

Once a 4-H'er, always a 4-H'er ... the blood runs mighty green and thick!! :)

I never pre wash and have always been happy with the outcome and never have had bleeding ever..I do like the worn/wrinkled look it makes me want to cover up with it,,,
Mine are never that wrinkly though.

I agree on both counts. Harriet Hargrave's book is my quilting bible :)