Attached is a scan showing similar fabrics - I bought the darker one at a garage sale - and I'm going to assume it has been washed.

The lighter one is one of "mine"

I feel that overcasting minimizes fabric loss and definitely keeps the washing and drying neater.

See, now that's why I don't pre-wash ;) !

I do run a damp white cloth over, esp. dark colors & batiks, but I've never had a problem. The only thing that bled at all was a Debbie Mumm Christmas print. That darned thing was still turning water pink after three washes!

Edited to add that I do pre-wash when needed for swaps, and you are right - it can make quite a mess, not to mention the knotted up wad the fabric itself becomes.

Yeah, that's the only time I prewash also (swaps). I like the damp cloth idea!

thanks for sharing, good idea to overcast the raw edges before washing

I read somewhere if you cut just a bit off each corner of teh fabric, it will not get knotted and unravel. I had some success with it but not convinced.

That is what I do before washing and it works very well for me.

what does it mean to Overcast?

It has been a while sense I saw a term I didn't know. What is overcasting?

Same here.

Overcasting - can be done by hand - or by machine.

Overcasting is enclosing a raw edge with sewing - so that it doesn't ravel.

If you look carefully, you can see stitches on the edge of one of the pieces - that's done with a serger. It can also be done with a zigzag stitch.

Here is a link to what hand overcasting looks like.

http://www.simplesewingprojects.com/...ercast-stitch/