mic-pa

I agree with all the above and I will not order from them again

juliasb

Many fabrics are treated with heavy sizing at the manufacturer. Pre washing helps a great deal with these fabrics. Wash and press before you cut and sewing will be so much easier. I don't pre-wash everything but I do wash fabrics with heavy sizing or fabrics that feel like they have no sizing. Even so there is a risk, as I recently found out, that goes with not pre-washing.

Peckish

They have all kinds of fabrics. I got a little book of their fabric swatches a couple of years ago, here's what's included:

Basic combed cotton ultra
Kona cotton quilting weight
cotton poplin
cotton sateen
silke faille
cotton interlock knit
heavy cotton twill
performance knit (100% polyester)
cotton voile
silk crepe de chine (100% silk)
cotton silk (55% cotton 45% silk)
linen-cotton canvas (55% linen 45% cotton)

I think they've added a couple fabrics since then.

Claire123

I have never ordered anything from them. The suggestions to prewash seem reasonable to me.

Wildernessties

Railroadersbrat

I just got done washing up some red fabric that was so stiff, I didn't think I would get it softened up, but I did.

If you can, hand wash the fabric in hot water, put laundry detergent in the water, splash it until it gets some good suds, then dunk the fabric in and let it sit and soak for about thirty minutes. Give it a good rinse, then soak it again in hot water and laundry detergent, give it a good rinse and then put it in a final bath of warm water and fabric softener and let it soak for at least an hour. Wring it out and hang it up to dry.

I only suggest hand washing because when I prewash fabric, I always do it by hand so I can actually monitor for color bleeding. If you're more comfortable using the washing machine, by all means, do it, just kill the cycle when the tub is about half full and let it soak.

cashs_mom

I think the difference is that those other companies are making large quantities of fabrics and can use different methods of printing than small batch companies can. I don't believe its the fabric. It's the printing process that makes the difference.