Originally Posted by
Chem
I'm just checking
As a garment sewist I'm used to prewashing Everything so this feels like a transgression to me LOL
However, if I understand correctly, the pucker-y textured look of washed quilts (I loooooove that!) is maximized by not prewashing. Is the shrinkage that makes the puckers, right?
Chem, I don't prewash MOST things, BUT, eventually it will happen. One piece of fabric will leak dye and then you will get mad and go back to prewashing for awhile anyway. I only buy quiltshop fabric, but for awhile there, I had dye leakage from RJ Fabrics. Doesn't happen any more though. I still have dye leakage from dark flannels, so if you are going to mix it with light colors, I recommend prewashing the dark to get the excess dye out (and there will be a lot of it if it is dye leaky). I had a valentine's quilt turn blotchy red with Joann's flannel fabric on the back. It's muted now so doesn't irk me so much, but just a warning - you never know when it will happen. If it's an important quilt, I'd prewash.
FWIW, I prewashed all my fabric for the first 10 years and then got lazy. I know which fabrics aren't prewashed (Asian, Halloween, panels, christmas glitter, flannel), so it's not a problem for me, but whichever way you go, make sure you have a means to know whether it is washed or not washed. I prewash all backing fabrics because I've had them shrink as much as 7 inches over the length of a queen sized quilt which would have caused some problems.