Unraveling after sewing
 

I've prewashed fabrics my daughter chose for a large log cabin quilt. She asked if she could pick any kind of fabric, not just cotton, and I told her "if you choose it I'll sew it." I'm regretting that a little because she chose several very silky polyester type fabrics that washed fine and went through the dryer fine, but they unravel if you just look at them. I'm worried that they might unravel through the seam after being pieced into the blocks for the quilt. Do I have to zig zag the seams that involve these fabrics or finish them in any way? Or do I need worry about this at all? Too late to cut on the bias if that is what I should have done - the pieces are already cut. Thanks for advice from anyone who has had experience quilting with these fabrics that unravel very easily.

Wondering if you could iron on a light weight stabilizer???

How about applying some Fray Block? I've used with success.

I would second the featherweight iron on. In addition to keeping them from fraying, the stabilizer will also keep the poly from stretching and add some weight to make it closer to the thickness of the cottons.
Just make sure the iron on can be used at a temperature that will work with the poly.

Replace it or you might regret it, then you have big problems! Just sayin'

i've made a few baby quilts of symphony satin & lace, lace inserts for my grand daughters & friends' babies. all have held up well. the only ones i probably should have worried about were those for my little angels, the exdil washes everything to the point of destruction, but all of thier quilts are still doing well. ex dil complained about the first satin quilt, said she didn't "want to have to take care of 'heirlooms' until the kids grew up!" i said great! because i don't make 'heirlooms'. when the babies become toddlers their pretty little satin & lace confections can become drag around quilts, then they can become toy quilts for their dolls. use everything i make and enjoy. nothing needs to be saved. the satin quilts have not frayed, the lace is intact & so is the ribbon. with the satin & lace i pin like crazy, shorten the stitch length & use clothing style 5/8" seams. a student of mine many years ago wanted to make a quilt with brocade samples & remnants from a fabric store. we made a beautiful quilt but we had to use fray check due to the multilayered weave.

According to a Fons and Porter show I watched somewhat recently, you can use any kind of fabric in any kind of quilt. Stabilizing and iron temperature are important considerations, as well as which sewing machine needles to use. You can probably check out their website for reference to the program.

It's episode 2803,ifyou're interested.You can stream it live, whatever that means!

You can use a serger to make the quilt. I took a class with Eleanor Burns and we used sergers to complete the entire quilt top.

I starch all my fabrics before I cut as that seems to help with any fraying. If I know this fabric frays alot I'll cut the strips using my pinking shear blade. That seems to be how you find most of your pre-cuts these days.