ridiculous shrinkage - what am I doing wrong?
06-18-2014, 04:02 PM
#23
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 8,107
I pre-wash everything and dry it in the dryer. I like to wash my fabrics before I use them because if they are going to shrink or the color run, I want it done before I use it in a quilt. I also preshrink my batting. I prefer Warm and Natural. I soak it in the washer in hot water but do not let it agitate. then I just spin it out and put it in the dryer. After I make a quilt, when I wash it, I do not put in the dryer. I line dry all my quilts. You will have some shrinkage but not as much if you line dry them. That is just my preference.
06-18-2014, 04:12 PM
#24
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Not Here
Posts: 3,817
bearisgray - I do have the muslin left. I bought it for the purposes of practicing with "no guilt" on the frame. I will try the test you mention and let people know. I looked again at the placemat. The muslin is almost flat, and the front looks like a parachute. I'm starting to think it's at least partly the muslin in this case. I'm tempted to remove the binding to see what the batting looks like at the edges.
I'm not sure why she made me promise that, but I know that next time I think I'll just fib to her! I also have found that I have really irritated the eczema on my fingers over the last couple of months while working with this stuff (and chalk) - it may not be a coincidence that I don't usually have to worry about it with my prewashed fabrics. The only fabrics I don't wash are when the pattern says "prewashing not recommended" like in the case of the Stonehenge Aphrodite border fabrics I was using. Other than that, it all gets a welcome home bath.
I think I might just go accidentally drop the rest of those batiks into the washer.
Prism99 - This was a batting that one of the quilt shops was carrying. It was their cotton offering. I bought it about a year ago, and didn't "know any better". I thought it would be "OK". I'm sure glad I didn't buy more of it.
I kept the wrap for the batting, it's what tells me 1 - 5% shrinkage, and 12% poly propylene. (I had misremembered the 13% and the 3%)
I'm guessing the part in the red area is why there's not a lot of info online for it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479664[/ATTACH]
I can only wonder what it would have been like if I hadn't preshrunk!
Candace - *Hand over heart!* I promise! Now and forever I will pre-wash from now on! I lived in fear of that dark blue running! I threw 2 color catchers (my Canadian contraband!) in and they came out indigo, but I think that was the backing which was roughly indigo but darker. The batiks showed no sign of running, luckily! I did know it would draw up some with the quilting, but when I put it on the bed, there was maybe an inch on each side of the white showing on the bed at the sides. Today, there's closer to 4 inches on each side. When it was a flimsy, the white ran to the edge of the mattress.
FroggyinTexas - I assumed it was me because I've been quilting less than 18 months and this was my first time not prewashing, preshrinking batting, and doing a quilt this big. I was positive in that cocktail of new experiences I'd learned a lesson but didn't know what it was yet.
I love your idea of making it bigger and letting it shrink!
Jeanne S - At worst, it would have been warm wash, cold rinse and a warm dryer. That's how I preshrunk the batting too, so it would "understand" when real life hit it.
OnebyOne - Nowadays, I do understand that the cotton requires a "framework" to sit on. I was frustrated at the time though that the label makes it look to a rank newbie (which I was) like it's 100% cotton. I thought someone had figured out how to do a stable cotton batting without pop bottles. It was my fault for not reading the small print. I still don't like how 88% = 100% in advertising land.
debbiemarie - looking at this placemat, I'm really thinking the muslin was at least partially responsible, like you mention.
AngeliaNR - 2 of the 3 batiks were from TrendTex, I'm not sure of the manufacturer though. The dark blue.... uh... it was a Fabricland fabric. Shhhh! Don't tell! I'd sworn off their fabrics, but the color was so lovely. I tried to leave it in the store 3 times before I finally gave in and took it home.
QuiltnNan - shrinkage was never my reason for prewashing, but it sure is a reason I'll do it now!
I'm not sure why she made me promise that, but I know that next time I think I'll just fib to her! I also have found that I have really irritated the eczema on my fingers over the last couple of months while working with this stuff (and chalk) - it may not be a coincidence that I don't usually have to worry about it with my prewashed fabrics. The only fabrics I don't wash are when the pattern says "prewashing not recommended" like in the case of the Stonehenge Aphrodite border fabrics I was using. Other than that, it all gets a welcome home bath.
I think I might just go accidentally drop the rest of those batiks into the washer.
Prism99 - This was a batting that one of the quilt shops was carrying. It was their cotton offering. I bought it about a year ago, and didn't "know any better". I thought it would be "OK". I'm sure glad I didn't buy more of it.
I kept the wrap for the batting, it's what tells me 1 - 5% shrinkage, and 12% poly propylene. (I had misremembered the 13% and the 3%)
I'm guessing the part in the red area is why there's not a lot of info online for it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479664[/ATTACH]
I can only wonder what it would have been like if I hadn't preshrunk!
Candace - *Hand over heart!* I promise! Now and forever I will pre-wash from now on!
I lived in fear of that dark blue running! I threw 2 color catchers (my Canadian contraband!) in and they came out indigo, but I think that was the backing which was roughly indigo but darker. The batiks showed no sign of running, luckily! I did know it would draw up some with the quilting, but when I put it on the bed, there was maybe an inch on each side of the white showing on the bed at the sides. Today, there's closer to 4 inches on each side. When it was a flimsy, the white ran to the edge of the mattress. FroggyinTexas - I assumed it was me because I've been quilting less than 18 months and this was my first time not prewashing, preshrinking batting, and doing a quilt this big. I was positive in that cocktail of new experiences I'd learned a lesson but didn't know what it was yet.
I love your idea of making it bigger and letting it shrink!Jeanne S - At worst, it would have been warm wash, cold rinse and a warm dryer. That's how I preshrunk the batting too, so it would "understand" when real life hit it.
OnebyOne - Nowadays, I do understand that the cotton requires a "framework" to sit on. I was frustrated at the time though that the label makes it look to a rank newbie (which I was) like it's 100% cotton. I thought someone had figured out how to do a stable cotton batting without pop bottles. It was my fault for not reading the small print. I still don't like how 88% = 100% in advertising land.
debbiemarie - looking at this placemat, I'm really thinking the muslin was at least partially responsible, like you mention.
AngeliaNR - 2 of the 3 batiks were from TrendTex, I'm not sure of the manufacturer though. The dark blue.... uh... it was a Fabricland fabric. Shhhh! Don't tell!
I'd sworn off their fabrics, but the color was so lovely. I tried to leave it in the store 3 times before I finally gave in and took it home. QuiltnNan - shrinkage was never my reason for prewashing, but it sure is a reason I'll do it now!
Last edited by ArchaicArcane; 06-18-2014 at 04:16 PM.
06-19-2014, 01:23 AM
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Hernando FL
Posts: 1,662
I haphazardly prewash so most of what I make has a mixture of some prewashed some not. I use Warm and Natural/White in all the things I make which also has a scrim that is not cotton. I wash everything after it is done in warm water and detergent to get rid of the glue I used in basting and dry it in the dryer. I throw in a couple of color catchers for good measure but rarely do they come out with any significant amount of color on them and shrinkage is not a problem I don't think not prewashing is the answer to your problem. My guess would be either the batting but more likely the muslin.
06-19-2014, 01:48 AM
#27
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,165
I just had the same thing. The batting was some I tried from Connecting Threads, but I don't think it was the cause as I used it for some wall hangings with no problem.
I might just have used something called "Quilter's Cotton" from Hancock Fabrics. I haven't had good cottons shrink, but from now on cheap ones will get prewashed. I wash in cold water, and the quilt was dried on low.
I've never had permanent press Muslin shrink. I made shirts with it years ago, and they are still the same size. The muslin that really shrinks is the 36" wide variety. It's mostly for crafts and fitting muslins for dressmaking. It's cheap enough that you can make many trial fittings of a bodice and throw out the fittings that didn't work.
I might just have used something called "Quilter's Cotton" from Hancock Fabrics. I haven't had good cottons shrink, but from now on cheap ones will get prewashed. I wash in cold water, and the quilt was dried on low.
I've never had permanent press Muslin shrink. I made shirts with it years ago, and they are still the same size. The muslin that really shrinks is the 36" wide variety. It's mostly for crafts and fitting muslins for dressmaking. It's cheap enough that you can make many trial fittings of a bodice and throw out the fittings that didn't work.
Last edited by Weezy Rider; 06-19-2014 at 01:50 AM.
06-19-2014, 04:27 AM
#29
Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 16
Originally Posted by ArchaicArcane
Before I started this quilt, I did NOT pre-wash the fabric. My cousin, a long time quilter made me promise not to. I DID however pre-shrink the batting (got it soaking wet, pushed out as much water as I could then put it in a warm dryer)
The quilt started out 96" x 96" I admit that when I initially put it on the bed, I didn't measure it to know how much it "shrunk" from the quilting.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479619[/ATTACH]
Now that it's been washed (I needed to get the remaining blue lines out) - the seams sit in a different spot on the bed, so I did measure it. 89" on the one side, I didn't measure the other side.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479620[/ATTACH]
That's roughly 8% shrinkage. That's more than the 3% I expected from the batting even if it wasn't preshrunk.
Then I made a placemat with some of the left over fabrics and did not preshrink the batting. I quilted it, hated my quilting, ripped it all out, then quilted it again. I washed it to get the old needle holes out.
It went from 19.5" x 13.5" to 16.5" x 11.5" - roughly 18% shrinkage. (Previously, it had fit the laptop table it's sitting on)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479621[/ATTACH]
I do know that I can take these out of the dryer early and stretch and pin them back to their size, or close to it, like a show quilt, but I wanted to know if there was anything I could or should have done differently to minimize the shrinkage to begin with.
The quilt started out 96" x 96" I admit that when I initially put it on the bed, I didn't measure it to know how much it "shrunk" from the quilting.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479619[/ATTACH]
Now that it's been washed (I needed to get the remaining blue lines out) - the seams sit in a different spot on the bed, so I did measure it. 89" on the one side, I didn't measure the other side.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479620[/ATTACH]
That's roughly 8% shrinkage. That's more than the 3% I expected from the batting even if it wasn't preshrunk.
Then I made a placemat with some of the left over fabrics and did not preshrink the batting. I quilted it, hated my quilting, ripped it all out, then quilted it again. I washed it to get the old needle holes out.
It went from 19.5" x 13.5" to 16.5" x 11.5" - roughly 18% shrinkage. (Previously, it had fit the laptop table it's sitting on)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]479621[/ATTACH]
I do know that I can take these out of the dryer early and stretch and pin them back to their size, or close to it, like a show quilt, but I wanted to know if there was anything I could or should have done differently to minimize the shrinkage to begin with.
06-19-2014, 04:45 AM
#30
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Keller, TX
Posts: 1,916
It is not your quilt top....from your placemat photo. You can tell that your fabrics for the top did not shrink hardly at all, due to the puckering. The batting looks to have shrunk. Did you use the same muslin on the quilt? If not, then it is definitely your batting. BTW your quilt is beautiful! I use muslin in quilted jackets that contain no batting...I prewash the Batiks but not the muslin...on purpose. I quilt the batik to the muslin, then wash in hot water and dry on hot to get the quilted look without the bulk of batting. (I live in Texas) the muslin shrinks the batik to look as though it is quilted with batting. However, in your photo, it does look like the batting has shrunk. Interesting that the paper states clearly on the front "no prewashing required". Really? I would test that batting with two quilt fabrics to see if it is the batting....then never buy it again.
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