How do you keep fabric from raveling?
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC
Posts: 8,108
I wash every piece of fabric I get because of allergies. It makes a huge difference for me when piecing and quilting.
What I've found is that the raveling on the ends from washing isn't a big deal. I have to get the edges straight, as neither end is ever cut straight in the quilt shop. So most of the raveling is cut off when I square up the fabric.
What I've found is that the raveling on the ends from washing isn't a big deal. I have to get the edges straight, as neither end is ever cut straight in the quilt shop. So most of the raveling is cut off when I square up the fabric.
#15
I also don't prewash because it softens up the material so much I have to then starch the heck out of it to make it easy to work with. I've never understood the prewashing unless the fabric is coming from a questionable source, like Good Will or a thrift shop. On those occasions I've used a mesh bag which seemed to help some.
#17
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Southern California
Posts: 19,127
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Washington
Posts: 855
I prewashed a TON of fabric one year. My strategy was I didn't worry about it, because it's going to happen at times no matter what you do. And the piece that ravels will tangle, requiring that you untangle all the fabric from it. It was quicker for me to just solve all tangles as they came rather than attempting to prevent them
What I did do, however, was before throwing in the dryer, I detangled all snarls and I trimmed the major threads off (not everything, just the bad guys. And I saved them all! so now I have a huge ziploc bag full of lovely clumps of thread. Someday I'll lay them all between twin pieces of soluble interfacing and will sew a network of thread over them to hopefully create a new piece of "fabric".
What I did do, however, was before throwing in the dryer, I detangled all snarls and I trimmed the major threads off (not everything, just the bad guys. And I saved them all! so now I have a huge ziploc bag full of lovely clumps of thread. Someday I'll lay them all between twin pieces of soluble interfacing and will sew a network of thread over them to hopefully create a new piece of "fabric".
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Marcia_PA
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09-04-2012 02:48 AM