Your Experience with unwashed flannel
 

The local Fabric Pantry (fabric for charity) received a very large bag of flannel cuttings from a factory making men's flannel shirts. They are factory cuttings and all sizes. I plan on making crazy quilt type blocks from them mixed with squares that we will be able to cut from the larger pieces or bolt flannel.

We can't prewash the scraps. What has been your experience making quilts if the flannel will not be prewshed and shrunk especially if the blocks are made from stips and pieces as in string quilts. Will it help to spritz and steam the pieces before sewing.

If you are concerned about not washing the fabric you can put it in some garment bags and throw them like that in the washing machine. Or just put them in the washer on a soak cycle with very hot water and then just spin it. But if it is commercial grade for shirts, they may already have it shrunk. Why not wash a few pieces and see how it holds up?

When you make a rag quilt they recommend that you do not wash the flannel before so that it rags better. I have never tried it that way because I always wash fabrics before they get into the sewing room. But if it doesn't matter if it is laying flat or not, then perhaps the unwashed would work great in a string quilt. Maybe try a potholder size to see the exact results for the type of fabrics you've been given?

I wash flannel pieces all the time, just throw them in the washer and then in the dryer. There is some fraying, but I just rip or cut it off. I would much rather work with pre-washed fabric, including flannel.

Why not test a few pieces and see what kind of shrinkage you get or any other issues. It would seem that the manufacture of the shirts gets their flannel from the same source, and the flannel would all have the same issues. Its worth a shot.

Well, it's not my personal experience, but I attended a workshop given by Harriet Hargrave. She brought an all-flannel quilt she had made to prove that even flannel does not need to be pre-washed, provided you quilt it moderately well (not lines 10" apart!). After quilting, batting controls the shrinkage. IOW, the fabric cannot shrink more than the batting. HH measured her quilt before and after washing, and it shrank exactly the amount of the batting (Hobbs 80/20, up to 3% shrinkage) -- not as much as one would expect flannel to shrink if washed and dried alone. I was able to handle this quilt; it was soft, beautiful, and not at all distorted.

Someone who wants to test this should quilt a piece of flannel, then wash the quilted piece along with a piece of the unquilted flannel. I think you will find that the flannel that is washed on its own will shrink a *lot* while the quilted flannel will shrink only as much as the batting allows.

I looked at a couple of my DH's flannel shirts and the label said average of 4 percent shrinkage. That might not seem like much on a 6 inch square but oh my it could be nasty on a whole quilt. Sort by colours and put in lingerie bags and wash. Empty from bags and toss a moderate amount into a hot dryer with a dry towel. You would be surprised at how short a time it takes to dry and how little the pieces will fray.

Off topic but I just had to say: GingerK love your quote!

Pressing with steam will cause shrinkage so that may be your best avenue. I had it happen with a RJR fabric after it was sewn into the block - that's when I became a prewasher, but I understand why you don't want to wash flannel scraps.

I had a friend who used different flannels that shrunk at a different rate, making her finished quilt go funny. Seems like since all the flannel comes from the same place, you'll probably be alright...