To wash or not to wash jelly roll fabric?
#1
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Delaware
Posts: 50
To wash or not to wash jelly roll fabric?
I have always washed and dried all my quilting fabric because of possible bleeds and shrinkage. Until now, I have resisted using precuts, such as jelly rolls because I didn't think you could wash jelly rolls. Recently I have heard you should wash jelly rolls....how in the world would you do that? Can anyone enlighten me?
#4
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ballwin, MO
Posts: 4,256
My experience with washing layer cakes and jelly rolls is that the fabric shrinks unevenly -- a lot one way and very little the other. The two times I washed jelly rolls (both with pinked edges), I was still able to use them as 2.5" strips, although they were slightly narrower than the stash strips I used along with them. I washed and rinsed them by hand, spun in nylon mesh garment bags and hung to dry.
#5
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Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Blue Ridge Mountians
Posts: 7,075
I would dip each strip in a bowl of water with just a drop of soap. Swish around, check for bleeding , rince in another bowl, dip strip in starchy water and lay on a towel to dry. After Dry, press, and cut per pattern.
#6
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: SW Michigan
Posts: 5,166
I did a experiment on a strip. I washed one by hand in hot water and Tide and let the strip air dry and the strip shrunk 2 inches length wise not width wise. So I washed the rest of the roll. Maybe you can try one and see what happens.
#7
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Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: SW Michigan
Posts: 5,166
I foreget to add I hung the strips on a hanger and hung the hangers in the bathtub.
#9
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Flagstaff, Arizona
Posts: 9,475
I wash all of my fabrics too before starting a quilt but I don't wash anything that is smaller than a fat quarter. I feel you may get alot of fraying. Possibly you could rinse your jelly roll in a sink full of warm water and slowly work them thru and no harsh agitation. Just a thought.
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craftybear
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07-12-2010 03:03 PM