postal packin' mama

I bought 108" wide fabric for king size quilt backing at JoAnn Fabrics. It's 100% cotton so preshrunk it in hot water wash & dryer. Well, its width went from 108" to 92" -- 16" shrinkage in width! Called the JoAnn store & clerk told me "It should've 'only' shrunk 8 inches"! If I'd been advised of that before I bought it, I'd have selected a poly/cotton blend instead. I'd bought an extra 3/4 yard, thank goodness, so ended up having to cut the excess length off & turn it crosswise grain and sew onto the sides to get enough width. Then I washed it again, in hot water, and dried it again to be sure it's done all the shrinking it's going to do, hopefully!
Do you think future washings in cold water should be safe??

Jim's Gem

That's a lot of shrinkage!!!

sharon b

I would think even 8 inches of shrinking is too much :shock:

Pam

Yikes!!! I know it is taboo, but thinking a king sized flat sheet at about $12 is looking pretty good to me, no shrinkage, no shifting. I know I am about to get kicked off here, and I really like the board. Oh well, let's see what happens.

postal packin' mama

Yes,that was my first option but even after ironing out all the seams, the 200 thread count king size flat sheet wasn't quite big enough so, not wanting to have seams in the backing, I went for the 108" wide. Joke was on me cuz I still had to have a seam down each side!

Honey

I have never heard of any fabric shrinking yhat much. I would take it back.

Pam

Well, dog gone it.

littlehud

That is a lot of shrinkage. Good thing you washed before using.

amandasgramma

Good luck taking it back to Joanns!
The last time I bought some backing from Joanns I had a heck of a time getting it to square up on the quilting machine. I seemed like it kept stretching!!!! I called that my quilt from He$$. I prewashed my fabric and didn't notice that it shrank any....
I'd say that if it didn't shrink anymore when you pre-washed, it shouldn't after you're done.
good luck!

Born2Sew

I use sheets as backing almost all the time. So far I've never had any problems doing this.

I would be so upset about all that shrinkage! That is horrible. Frankly, I really haven't been hearing good things lately about JoAnns fabrics..