Wonnie

This lady neither washes nor starches her fabrics and never had a problem. If I had to wash,dry and then iron yards of fabric before I even cut the fabric (my least favorite part!) I'd never make another quilt! Love precuts especially for sashings and charms and layer cakes as well to aid in cutting down the amount of yardage I need to cut. As far as germs and chemicals, I don't ask department stores to wash all their clothing before I try them on or shoe stores to sanitize their shoes knowing full well many people never wear footies when trying them on or hat stores to sanitize their hats knowing many, many have tried then on before me. To each his own.....just how I feel.

Jeanette Frantz

Well, I wash everything! And, I don't buy pre-cut fabrics. I've seen too many fabrics that have been manhandled or used as hankerchiefs, unsupervised children with their chocolaty hands -- if I see these stains, I won't buy that particular piece of fabric. One of the stores I shopped in for fabric, the clerk there found a chicken bone stuffed into the fabric. I think that explains sufficiently why I prewash everything! Also, I have asthma, and I won't take the risk of being thrown into an asthma attack by the chemicals contained in the fabric. Asthma attacks can and do kill people -- I don't want to be one of those people.

Mkotch

I wash batiks and any red fabric, having had very high quality ones run on finished quilts. I don't usually do anything smaller than a fat quarter, though. One very nice batik never did stop running, so now it's my fourth of July table cloth.

costumegirl

Tessagin & Jeanette F - Ewwwwwwww and Yuk!!! Surprises can be found on or in fabric in stores!!

duckydo

I don't prewash, haven't for years. If I have a fabric that I think will run I use color blockers..

sharin'Sharon

I, too, prewash all my fabric before using. I'm not fond of precuts so don't use them much, but I did order some layer cakes I liked and was given some charm squares so I did prewash them, too. Didn't care if I chose to prewash them because neither of them were the correct respective 10 inch or 5 inch squares when I received them and would have had to amend my pattern anyway so this way they were preshrunk the way I like it before cutting. I always measure my fabrc before AND after washing and I know even the individual pieces of a collection of fabrics shrinks differently. Just like cooking, we all have our own ways.

QuiltnLady1

I prewash the large pieces (fat-quarter and larger) because sewing with them gives me a headache. For a while I have was buying precuts because I have been having hand problems and I have been afraid to wash them because of the fraying and distortion. Now that I have the AccuQuilt Go I can go back to prewashing since I can easily cut my own precuts.

carolynjo

I don't "wash" my fabric if the pieces are small; I soak them in hot water, rinse, and dry. I iron them when they are dry. My quilt teachers long ago stressed that soaking would cause them to shrink, so that is what I do. For large pieces, I zig-zag the piece along the cut edges and then wash. There is virtually no raveling if you do the stitching.

peaceandjoy

Meh - I'm by nature fairly cautious. The only place I live on the edge is in using fabric without washing. Never had a problem. If I'm concerned I wash with color catchers, and have had them come out pretty well dyed! They did the job, though - no bleeding in unwanted areas of the quilt.

As a very general rule, I don't use pre-cuts because they aren't usually a good value. Once in a while, though, I find a great deal and grab it. A jelly roll of 40 strips = 100" of fabric, all cut into strips and ready to go. If you get it on sale for $20 (not unusual at Missouri Star, or sometimes other places), you are getting just under 2.8 yards @ about $7.14/yd. The same is true for a layer cake. Depending on what you are looking for, or if you want to be able to use the whole line, precuts purchased on sale can actually be a good deal. Add in saved time, and can't be beat!

Right now, I'm working on a guild mystery quilt that required a jelly roll OR 42 2.5" strips we cut ourselves. I'm using a jelly roll I bought on sale that was in my cabinet.

So while I don't generally buy them ... I don't have any rules other than to enjoy what I'm doing! I prefer the crinkly look that unwashed fabrics have after a quilt is done, quilted and washed at that point; I wouldn't get that if I prewashed, plus I've saved time.

zozee

bearisgray-- The logic in your question is exactly what keeps me from buying precuts. The reason for washing precuts is the same for me as when I wash yardage: test the fabrics for colorfastness, get the germs out, let it shrink before subcutting.

That said, I've been given precuts for Christmas. As much as I like the look of them and the temptation to just "get started on the next quilt and wash it with Color Catchers later," I KNOW what washing does to those pristine looking pieces. I deal with it when I bring scraps into the house, even when I use the zippered mesh bag. The time it takes to wash, partially dry, iron, and still get ravels, more than doubles the work. And I simply don't have the guts to chance whether JUST ONE fabric will bleed in my finished project.

Hence, you'll find precuts in my sewing room, but they're still nice and pretty in their packages!