tranum

Learned something here !

Garden Gnome

I don't think the fabrics have as much odor as they did 30 years or so ago. My eyes and nose don't burn now when I am in a fabric store like they did years ago. Surely the processing has changed a bit over the years.

Stitchnripper

What is going on with the fabrics I buy? I don't have those issues. I soak pieces of them to see if they will bleed and so far nothing has bled and I don't get those listed things.

bakermom

I agree! I remember having to leave the store because of burning eyes, etc. Haven't had that happen in years

mojo11

Several years ago I was sewing with a good brand of white fabric. I didn't prewash because it was white. Every time I got near that fabric I got a horrible migraine that would last for days. From then on I prewash all my fabric. Not only for bleeding, but for all the junk manufacturers use in the factories.

Stitchnripper

Here is something related I just googled. I didn't know most of information. https://www.all-about-quilts.com/che...in-fabric.html

Jingle

Luckily I never smell anything on my fabrics or when I wash them. I don't buy real expensive fabrics either. I pay mid prices. Fabrics never stink, bleed, shrink or anything. Of course, I don't go looking for anything.

madamekelly

I know they use something in new fabrics that I am highly allergic to. I have to wash all new fabric or clothes, and wash my hands as sooon as can if I have been clothes or fabric shopping or it sets off my eczema on my hands so bad that water hurts to touch.

rjwilder

I wash all my fabric before it ever gets in my sewing room. The first thing I do when I get home with new fabric is throw it in the washing machine. I don't buy precuts because they don't do well in a washing machine and they shrink so the 5x5 is no longer 5x5.

Charleen DiSante

Those small pre-cuts or scraps you get from 'goodness knows where' can be swished gently in water then spun almost dry in a salad spinner. An idea I learned a while ago.