Dear One 5

I usually serge the ends before washing, then refold lengthwise, and trim the sergeing off when I square the end.

duckydo

ditto

pab58

I need to get one of those! I pink my edges before I wash my fabrics, too. When I have quite a bit of fabric to wash, my hands get so tired from using the pinking shears! :cry: I have absolutely NO IDEA why I hadn't thought of using a "zig-zag" blade on my rotary cutter! :roll: :oops: I knew about them, but never made the connection to use them for that purpose!! Thanks for mentioning it!!!!! :thumbup:

mim

I hand wash in very hot water and then put in the dryer with towels on high heat -- I get the sizing out and shrink it with no strings.

The other alternative is to use the prewash cycle and then on delicate. Washers rarely have very hot water

Mim

carhop

cliping the cornors did not help me

Linda B

I guess I'm an odd person out. I prewash all my fabric by hand using Woolite in the kitchen sink. Fill one side with warm soapy water, put a several pieces of fabric of like color in (I mostly buy 1/4 - 1/2 yard pieces), swish it around for a couple of minutes, pick out each piece, squeeze out excess water/soap, drop into the other side of sink to rinse in very warm water until no more color bleeds out. Then I open up each piece, lay a bunch on thick toweling, top with another thick towel, roll up and twist the towels to soak up excess water. Then it's off to the ironing board. There will be a few strings, but nothing like you get in a washing machine. I really wish I could find an inexpensive, small (bucket size) wringer for getting the excess water out. This may be a slower, more labor intensive method, but I enjoy "getting intimate" with my fabric this way and feel like the pieces end up less distorted in shape this way.

ghostrider

For those of us who wash several 2-4 yard pieces at the same time, hand washing and lingerie bags are not really an option. The closer the edge cuts are to straight of grain, the less the fabric will ravel, so instead of serging or seaming or pinking the edges, I just trim them straight before washing.

quilt3311

I put on gentle wash and do not get a lot of strings. I think the agitation of a regular cycle is what causes most of the problem.

Diane C.

I cut a 1 inch diagonal triangle accross the corners and don't get strings. I only wash things I think might fade though. Diane C.

mackandblues

I prewash everything but only have string problems if I bought 2.5" strips