orangeroom

A friend has requested 2 rag quilts. I'm interested in helping her, but due to the color preferences that she's mentioned, I'd like to use material from my stash. I've got plenty 100% cotton material in pink and fusia and plenty of white flannel.

In the past, I've only made rag quilts in flannel. Is it possible to make the front in 100% cotton and the back in flannel? I also was not planning on pre-washing any of the material. There wouldn't be an issue of un-even shrinkage, would there?

I appreciate any and all assistance with this. Thank you in advance.

wolfkitty

I understand the flannel shrinks quite a bit more than the regular cotton, so you probably want to wash the flannel. If you are washing the flannel, you might as well wash the cotton. But I'm one of those who usually washes everything anyway. But definitely wash the flannel.

dunster

Flannel shrinks - sometimes a lot - so I would prewash it. Mixing white with pink and fuchsia means it would also be a good idea to prewash the cotton, lest the white flannel wind up pink. JMHO

crafty pat

I wash everything as soon as I buy it. What I have seen that comes out of the dryer I have saved myself a lot of headaches. Some have had a lot of shrinkage and others have had the colors run.I always use color catchers.

Prism99

I'd make a test block out of the unwashed fabric, wash it, and see what happens. Flannel shrinkage is a problem if the block is not moderately quilted. When flannel is moderately quilted to the batting and other fabrics, the batting becomes the controlling factor in shrinkage. In other words, the flannel cannot shrink more than the batting in this situation. However, if you are just sewing an X through each block, that may not be enough quilting to keep the flannel from shrinking in the unquilted areas.

Creating a test block will also help determine if there will be bleeding from the pink and fuchsia fabrics and whether the white flannel picks up that bleeding. If the test block is okay, I would go ahead without prewashing.

romanojg

Flannel and cottons will fray and shrink differently. Why don't you make one or two sample blocks; wash one and compare the two and see what happens. You need to know how they will look once washed because eventually they'll need to be washed and it's better to find a problem before it happens; especially when you are using different fabrics and different colors like you want to.

GrannieAnnie

In my opinion, there is always a question of uneven shrinkage.

MaryLane

Well, contrary to everyone else, the rag quilts I saw until about two years ago were one layer of flannel and one layer of cotton with a layer of batting between. I have made several like that. I did not prewash. They look great. My husband likes clipping them for me.

ckcowl

i've made lots of raggy quilts- many of them with regular cottons on one side-flannel on the other- some with regular cotton & flannel both on one side- i do not pre-wash my fabrics (including the flannels) before putting together a raggy quilt- i've never had any problems with uneven behaviour- or any issue once the quilt was constructed, clipped, washed & dried- everyone loves them- they coume out Fabulous! here's the latest- mixed fabrics-cottons & flannels- nothing pre-washed- this after being washed.[ATTACH=CONFIG]341643[/ATTACH]as a completed quilt

rrhaigh

I have made several rag quilts with cotton on top and flannel on the back. I did not prewash any of the fabric. Once the rag quilts were completed I washed them several times prior to giving them away. They turned out very nice. One quilt had batiks on top and flannel on back. The other two had 100% cotton on top and flannel on back.

Also, I put the completed rag quilt in the dryer on timed dry prior to washing them. That actually removes a lot of the lint before putting it into the washer.