Dkm

I like to wash my material after purchasing. When I started quilting I was told wash in cold water no fabric softener. So this has been my practice. I made several mask thinking my material would not shrink. After making and then washing the mask in hot water they drew up a 1/2 inch to an inch. So my question is should I be washing in hot water from the beginning.

patricej

i pre-wash in hot water with my regular detergent.
hottest setting on the dryer.
sometimes i toss in a dryer sheet but probably shouldn't.

NJ Quilter

I, too, use the hottest settings in both my washer and dryer. This is what I was told when I first started quilting as well. I do not use any fabric softener.

Maureen NJ

Me too. I want it it shrink before cutting. I also starch (for quilts) and press on high with steam. With mask, I want to tighten the weave as much as possible so yes, use hot setting.

QuiltnNan

I've always used hot water. I want the fabric to get all of the 'rough' treatment out of the way so there is no surprise shrinkage or bleeding after spending all that time on the quilt.

Iceblossom

For normal fabric, I prewash all my fabric before using along with my color sorted laundry. I pretty much always throw in a color catcher, I'm finding the ones I can buy at the Dollar store are just fine. Typically I'm doing a warm/cold wash cycle (my machine does not have options except for cold as rinse), and I like to use a lot of water, so I load on the lighter side of whatever fill level. That is, a small load I do on medium, etc. I use unscented detergent and we have good water here, so no softeners or other additives.

Between washing and drying the fabric, I cut off any strings or issues and give it a good snap! to help straighten the grain. You know/hear it when you do it.

I do not believe in dryer sheets for my fabric -- I can see/feel results when I'm working with them. So I dry on medium-high heat until almost dry. Pull out the fabric, give it another snap and lay out ready to be pressed. At that point I throw in a dryer sheet and finish drying the rest of the load.

Any time I have any concerns with fabric, either in weave or dye, or for the person/purpose used, a hot wash and dry can be a good thing. I hate to iron myself... but I can get over that. I'd rather spend a few extra minutes in the start of a project than to have all my work and effort fall apart in that first wash.

Tartan

For mask making, they do recommend washing fabric in hot water before making them.

bearisgray

My current "ritual" for what I do to most of my fabrics before cutting them ( I tend to have more than one piece of fabric that needs to be treated at a time.)

1. Serge or overcast the raw edges. I use a 3-thread serger with a medium length setting. The thread is fairly easy to remove if I want to " rescue/save/ use" that approximate 1/8 inch of fabric. It takes less time to serge/overcast than to trim raveled edges and fight with the strings. Besides, one can lose up to 1/2 inch of fabric - or more - from raveling.

2. next, I will be soaking the pieces in hot water ( it cools down while setting around)
With a few drops of Dawn dish detergent added. like colors together, so if one piece has issues with the dye, it won't be a major problem. Dark greens with dark greens, etc. I do take a look after a few minutes to check on the color of the water. It the water has become intensely colored, I check to see which piece of fabric the dye is coming from. Then that piece gets more soaking and rinsing until I consider it " usable" or it gets tossed. For soaking, I use big bowls, kitchen sink, kettles, whatever.

my criteria for "usable" - can it be washed with white or pale yellow without staining them? Then i wash the fabrics on a gentle cycle and dry them until just dry. Fold immediately. I do iron the pieces right before cutting them.

​​​​​​i feel that the agitation from washing and drying is what makes new fabric look " used" - so I try to keep that to a minimum.
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​​​​​I feel that I should have treated (soaked) the fabrics enough so that I do not feel the need to use color catchers, synthrapol, or rerayne . I assume that whoever gets the finished item has never heard of those products.

With all that - I was jusr using a multi- colored striped piece of fabric that had only 1/8inch red stripes that bled - I think it was from my days of not soaking for a couple of hours before washing. I was unpleasantly surprised.

Is this "a bit of a bother"? Yes, but dealing with a bleeder or major shrinker is a much bigger bother to me

I want to know what my fabric is like and how it behaves before I cut it.

Jordan

I always wash my fabrics before using too but I only wash in warm water and regular laundry detergent. You are right about not using fabric softener.

djmat

Either way works, looks like you make every effort which is commendable.
When prepping new fabric I wash in warm with baby clothes detergent & a color grabber sheet for any that may bleed onto other fabrics in the wash. Haven't had a problem yet maybe because I only use quilters cotton & don't overcrowd in the wash? Not fond of the sizing or whatever manufacturers put on the fabric, yuck! Best Press seems to work best when ironing before cutting. When the quilt is finished I wash in cold water & same detergent in a front load machine & toss in another color grabber then hang across 2 or three lines on the clothes line out back in the shade or use a gas dryer on low, takes about the same time as hanging outside so depends on the weather.