Airwick156

Amongst all those boxes of fabric, I came across yardage of muslin. One piece is marked 7 yards and it feels like good quality of muslin. My question is this. How do I wash it so that it doesn't all get tangled up into a big huge mess. Or should I cut it down into smaller peices maybe like 2 1/2 yards or what? I really don't know what I am going to do with it, although I do know that people use if for backings on some quilts. The smaller peice that I have came across so far is 5 yards and it feels like the same good quality.

I have came across some really nice fabric and alot of yardage of some. I even found a peice that was sold at JC Penney's and their little price tag was stapled onto the fabric luckily up in the selvege area and the staple had rusted. That surprised me to see that as there was a post on here not too long ago about JC Penney's selling fabric back in the 70's so I know that piece is old. :).
I like lighthouses just love them they are so beautiful to me and I found a couple of panels with lighthouses and 2 pillow panels of lighthouses. And some red/white/blue life rings on a white background. I set those aside and I hope to do something with them and SOON!!!.

BKrenning

I don't think it will be a tangled mess if you leave it in the large yardage. Cutting it up will make a bigger mess because you'll have more exposed edges. I would just wash it the way it is but if you're really worried about fraying & tangling, you can pink the cut edges, zig zag or stay-stitch them or put each fabric in it's own lingerie bag before throwing it in the washer.

You might also try just soaking or very gentle wash cycle rather than using a full agitation.

whatever

I did 2 yds once use a lot of fabric softner shook it out good before drying the softner helped ( I had already washed it with just the reg amount and ( well I don't want to do that again)

smitty

fold your yardage into 24" folds. pin several places with
very large safety pins-through all the layers. (you should first cut a 3/4" triangle off each end corner(4))--this will keep it from fraying).
you can now wash it easily & dry it. will take longer to dry, but you will not have a big mess.

Airwick156

Thats a smart idea. Would have never thought about cutting a corner off like that to keep from fraying...hmmmm I see alot of cut corners in my future. LOL

Annaquilts

I do pieces up to 12 yards frequently but I have a xL capacity front loader. No problems sofar.

Airwick156

I just have an apartment size washer and dryer, but I do have access to our apartment complexes regular size washers and they have one front loader.

wanda lou

Fold it very neat and place it in a washable laundy bag or pillowcase tie the top then wash this helps somewhat, atleast it's not a tangled mess.

ThreadHead

I just did that 7 yds of muslin.

I folded mine and pinned it with large safety pins on all four corners and one in the middle.
Easier to iron once it's dry.

craftybear

great tip, thanks