A newbie question about glue and washing fabrics and quilts
 

First some background so you can understand where my question is coming from. I fell in love with a McKenna Ryan pattern that had nine blocks of seashore scenes and thus began my journey in quilting. It was ambitious for a first time effort but I finished it in about a year. Nothing in the directions told me to prewash the fabrics so I didn't. I don't see that it is a problem since it is a wall hanging. I took it to a local LA quilter to quilt and bind. So I was ready for my second quilt. I agreed to make a chuppah (ceremonial canopy) for a wedding. It is going to be used this weekend for the wedding (I temporarily put a binding on it) and I am going to take it back to remove the binding, quilt and rebind after the wedding. Again, I did not prewash the batiks I used for the applique (on a white background). So now I am getting to my question. I may decide to FMQ this one myself, so I was reading all the information on the boards about using glue to "baste" the backing, batting and front of the . Is this something I can do if I am not going to wash the quilt? Given that the fabrics are all orange/red batiks on a white should I even attempt to wash the quilt after glue basting? Or would you advise that I just pin baste or take it to the local LA quilter? Is it always advisable to wash fabrics before appliquing or making blocks?

Hello and welcome from Texas. I always try to prewash. Don't know about not washing glue out. I would think that you would need to

Why not spray baste the quilt? Personally speaking I wouldn't glue baste it since you're working with batiks. I don't normally pre-wash my fabrics but I definitely would batiks or at least "set" the colors. Don't get me wrong, I love glue basting but wouldn't in this case. I'm sure that you'll get other opinions and advice.

I would not use washable school glue for anything that isn't getting washed after completion. Glue can leave little blobs that turn into hard spots when dry. School glue is also a starch based product and might attract bugs. If you are doing the quilting yourself, I would use a spray adhesive. If you take to a LA, no basting is necessary. In the future.... for anything that will be washed....prewash your fabrics to eliminate any bleeders and get rid of the chemicals used in fabric production.

I just started using glue, on a binding (Sharon Shaumber's method). It can temporarily discolor the fabrics or leave sticky or stiff spots, so I think that washing would be required. Of course I wash everything anyway, including wall hangings.

I don't pre-wash anything ever. Glue basting can leave hard spots and funny looking spots though so I wouldn't use it for something I'm not going to wash. I would use spray baste. Make sure you get spray baste and use a light spray, not heavy. If you do decide to wash it at some point use a top loading machine and throw in some Shout color catchers. You'll usually find them on the top shelf somewhere in the laundry aisle.

Thanks for all the advice, I think this one I will take to the LA quilter since I broke my wrist since I posted--so one habd typing now. In the future, I will take the time to wash the fabrics, expeciallt since I really like the batiks. Thanks everyone.

So sorry about your wrist! Bad timing, I know, but it did give you a definite answer to your question. Hope your wrist heals quickly.

My experience with glue is that it will not become hard blobs if it is ironed right after application. This forces the glue into the fabric/batting. I have used this process many times

]...prewash your fabrics to eliminate any bleeders and get rid of the chemicals used in fabric production.[/QUOTE]

Just a general question ..........if you prewash fabric to remove chems, do you also prewash purchased clothing before wearing, or anything made of fabric before using?