too lazy, don't like to have to iron out all the wrinkles, hate doing laundry, I'm usually anxious to get started cutting. Pick any of (or all of) the reasons. Color Catchers - my BFF!

I must be weird. I do pre-wash all my fabrics, because any shrinking or bleeding I prefer to expend with before I spend months putting a quilt together. But also, I enjoy the process. It allows me to feel the fabric, spend time with it, decide how I will use it in the quilt, audition it, I suppose. It also gives me time to work up to making that first cut. It's a comfort thing to me.

I was in the camp of Not washing fabric before I got a terrible allergy to a fabric I was working with that I did not pre wash, and when ironing it, it off gassed so much that my face got chemically burnt. Not to mention what we inhaled when the house stunk.
I am now in the always wash before I work with it camp.

Wonder how many would have come after me with a branding iron if I had asked "Are you too lazy to wash your fabrics before cutting them?"

I certainly hope you made the store you purchased that fabric from aware of its horrific side effects to you.....if that were me I would certainly make a few waves.....

I sympathize with those that don't have easy access to a washing machine or space to dry fabric washed by hand. It seems risky not to wash, I have a small pile of fabrics that never stopped bleeding even after overnight soaks, etc. I keep that pile separated & use for wall hangings or things that don't get washed.

Late to the thread, but a topic that has recently come up among my quilter friends. I have been quilting for nearly 40 years and bought into the idea that fabric needed to be washed before use initially. I detest ironing (of any kind) with a passion, so I hated this part. I decided to skip this step with my second full sized bed quilt and have never washed clean fabric (I do wash something that looks like dirt got on it to make certain it will wash out before use) in the over 70 quilts I have made since then. I have never had any fabric bleed onto another fabric, and for a while I was doing intricate Baltimore bride applique quilts on white backgrounds. Until very recently, I hand quilted all of my quilts, so there were many hours invested in each one. If I had noticed a problem, I would have prewashed, but go by the maxim "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Where I live (southern CA), water is a precious resource and I don't see the point of wasting it washing fabric that will get washed following completion of the quilt. I will say that I tend to wash in cold water with a cold rinse and either dry out in the sunshine or a hot dryer. If I use polyester batting, I get almost no shrinkage from the finished quilt to the washed one. Using unwashed cotton batting (warm and natural for the most part), I get between 3-4% shrinkage. I like the way the quilting looks with the shrinkage, so do not worry about prewashing cotton batting either.

1. Too impatient - I'm usually in too much of a hurry to start working on the quilt.
2. Too lazy - It's way too much extra work.
3. Not necessary - I've never had a problem doing it this way. The quilting keeps the top from shrinking unevenly and color catchers in the laundry keep the colors from running.

Reason for washing BEFORE using - I just bought 2 different mfg. red-burgundy fabrics at 2 different shops. I was told years ago by a college level quilting teacher to WASH fabric before use. I sure am glad I took that advice! Both of these fabrics turned the sink water dark PINK ! Had I been doing a 2 color quilt, one color WHITE, I certainly would have had a mess on my hands. I don't like the "HAND" on fabrics with lots of sizing etc. ! I think this dead horse has been beat enough, so, wash or don't wash - the choice is YOURS!! SEW ON !!

Me too! I do the same thing with the washing. Never had a problem.