knlsmith

I'm making the Amy Butler Sophia bag and I have to make piping from cotton cording. Ny fabric is washed, should I soak and dry my cording so it doesn't shrink if I ever wash the bag in the future?

Pat625

I would just to be safe...For a little investment of time right now, it might keep you from regret later if you do not

QuiltE

Yes ... the cording will likely shrink, so you had better shrink it well before you make your piping.

Tartan

It depends on what the content of your cording is. If it's cotton, it will shrink. If it's polyester you should be all right without washing it. If you don't know, take a little section and test wash it. It's better to find out now before it's in your bag.

BellaBoo

You can spray it with water and iron it, it will shrink all it's going to.

knlsmith

Thanks a bunch. I was leaning toward soaking it in hot water n throwing in dryer. I definitely will.

knlsmith

Well when i got off work this morning looks like i bought the cording twice. Lol. So i have poly and a thing of cotton. Im going to use the poly so i don't have to worry about shrinking it. Thanks!

Favorite Fabrics

I know you've found your solution, knlsmith, that's great!

But for anyone else who is doing a project, and does not want to pre-shrink the cording ... if you can leave the cording "free-floating" inside its fabric tube, not catching the ends into your seams, then the worst that would happen is that you would have some empty spaces in the ends of your piping tubes. And IMHO that would be better than puckers.

bearisgray

I soaked some poly-cotton wrights (I think that was the brand - purchased at WalMart, anyway) in hot water - laid it on a towel to dry - it shrank about an inch per yard. Enough to cause a bit of puckering.