I have only bought a yard or two here and there for small projects. I received some fat quarters in the mail today for a turning twenty quilt I have in mind. Should I wash them first on gentle cycle or something? I afraid that they'll get all frayed and I'll loose half the quarter. All my other fabrics I just through in the machine prior to using them.

I agree with Joyce.
I would just "rinse" them in the sink. That way, no worries on fraying.

I have never had a problem with washing mine. I wash almost everything before I use it. Depending on the material I have only had a problem with a few that get all that stringy stuff but after cutting that off and pressing them again everything was fine.
Just my two cents worth!
Kendra

When I do wash fabric I put the pinking blade in the cutter and pink everything except the selvage. No fraying problems and you don't lose much fabric when you square it up with a regular cutter blade.

I also pink the raw edges and wash and dry them in a laundry bag. Don't seem to have much fraying.

Thank you all for the fast replies. I have a pinking blade in the mail somewhere. It should be here soon and I will go from there. Thanks

I wash all my fat quarters in the machine. The edges do fray, but only by a quarter-inch or so. The biggest problem is untangling and trimming all the frayed bits when I do many at once. One of these days I'll get a mesh bag to wash my FQs in!

Ooooh, pretty fabrics ai731! Any special plans for those?

I really don't mind untagling fabrics, unless I'm rushed for time. I'm big into puzzles and such so I think that's why I don't mind.

My machine has a hand washable cycle only agitates like every 45 seconds or so for like 5 seconds. I use it when I wash fabric and haven't had a single mess, had a few frays but no big ones.

Yup :) I'm almost finished sewing the binding on the lap quilt / throw quilt I made from these FQs (they are from the Amy Butler Daisy Chain line). I'll post a picture of it, hopefully this evening!

Jan