Laundering New Quilts ?
#21
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 410
I use the "free" detergents because I can't stand when things smell perfumey. Sometimes odors like that give me headaches, which may be why I don't like them, I'm not sure. "New car smell" gives me headaches and makes me feel sick, so you can imagine what fun I am at parties.
#22
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Carroll, Iowa
Posts: 3,487
I wash all my quilts before I give them out as gifts cause I use starch on all my fabrics as well as Elmer's Glue during my assembling so want all that out of it before they get it. Plus this way if its going to bleed, I can hopefully fix it with a color catcher so it doesn't scare them half to death when they go to wash it.
#23
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Location: MN
Posts: 24,660
I hope you don't mind as this is not exactly a comment on your question....just an aside.
I sell quilts and I find that most people that buy quilts are not quilters. They don't like the crinkly look of washed quilts because it doesn't have a 'just bought' look. Hasanyone else experienced that ?
I sell quilts and I find that most people that buy quilts are not quilters. They don't like the crinkly look of washed quilts because it doesn't have a 'just bought' look. Hasanyone else experienced that ?
#25
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,789
[QUOTE=meyert;8006446]huh... well I just wash it like anything else. I do use fabric softener and I have even had comments about how much the love the smell. never thought about that.. just figured they can wash it before they use it if they wish[/QUOTE
I do the same. i figure if it's for a baby the parents will rewash it in dreft anyway.
I do the same. i figure if it's for a baby the parents will rewash it in dreft anyway.
#26
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
When I was in Lancaster, PA and visited some of the Amish quilt stores, I noticed that their quilts for sale all had the "unwashed" look.
To keep an "unwashed" look (even if you wash), I think it helps enormously to use polyester batting. It provides the lofty look of comforters that so many people equate with quilts, but does not shrink at all in the wash (unlike cotton). An alternative would be to pre-wash cotton batting so it does not shrink in the wash. The batting typically controls how much crinkling you get, assuming your quilting lines are reasonably close together -- 4" or less. Batting is stronger than fabrics, so a batting that does not shrink will stop fabrics from shrinking in a quilt, even though the same fabrics would shrink if washed by themselves.
#27
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 9,735
#28
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2016
Posts: 521
Yes, that is true. Some of my earlier quilts had polyester batting and after washing, they still had a 'new' look.
#29
Because I use water-soluble thread for basting, and usually a water-soluble embroidery stabilizer with my quilting pattern traced on to it, I have to wash the quilt to get rid of them. My detergent is blue Dawn dishwashing detergent - mild, no scent, and a color-catcher in and of itself.
#30
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC
Posts: 8,139
Scent free detergent and no fabric softener. I am 'sensitive' to fragrance chemicals. It's not allergy according to my allergist, but it feels the same and is treated the same as allergies. Go figure.
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