patdesign

This subject has been exhausted. There are those of us and many authors of books who only recommend prewashing fabric before quilting. I remember when cotton fabric used to shrink, and we looked for labels (for clothing) that said preshrunk which meant it would only shrink 2 to 3 percent. Muslin on the other hand will shrink more than once so it should be washed on hot and dried twice. To those of you who do not prewash, if you havent had a problem, it is just a matter of time. I saw a beautiful quilt posted here about a year ago where the woman had worked countless hours piecing (think it was hand done) and then one of the stronger blues ran onto the light(white) fabric. I spend too much time to have a problem that could have been avoided by just 1 extra step.
Pat

Carol34446

Have been prewashing for 50 years and will not stop now. Also, no matter where purchased dirt, bugs and people handling, who knows what is on material, along with shrinkage and bleeding. I am wanting to buy some layer cakes to make the big Jenny Dorn star and guess I will not wash them because of fraying. First precut I will have used. But I too feel is it up to eaach person, but being made overseas who knows what is on/in material, they do not have the same standards for shops/plants as we do.

MargeD

This may be an old subject, however, I almost always prewash my fabric. Since we've downsized from a house to apartment, my fabric is all in totes, some of which were in my basement sewing room for an undetermined time. At times I would not prewash and iron all my fabrics when it went into the totes, but when I was going to use it, I washed the fabric in cold water and dried it in the dryer. Yesterday in fact, I pulled a large piece of black fabric I planned to use as a border for our black/white family reunion quilt. Since there was a bit of odor, I took it to my bathroom sink to rinse out. I'm very glad I did because even though the fabric had been washed and dried previously, I still had some color bleeding through to the water. Since the fabric is still somewhat damp, it will be easier to iron dry before I cut it up for a border. I don't always wash small remnant and fat quarters, but if I do I put them in a pillowcase and close it with a rubber band. Besides keeping them together, all the threads are contained to the pillowcase. That's my opinion on the subject, however, I'm sure it will be debated for years to come.

caspharm

I usually don't prewash, but am going to do the fabrics I bought for a wedding gift, since they are red, white, and orange. Don't want to worry about the red bleeding into the white.

seamstome

Once bitten, twice shy, babe! Crafts that will not be washed, I do not wash but if it is going in the washer, I prewash it.

caspharm

I forgot to add a tip I received from a gal at a fabric shop, who said she saw it online: spread out the fabric and then gather it up (pleatlike), safety pin the edges together, and then wash and dry. It keeps the fabric from twisting and shredding. She tried and said it worked. I am trying it today, so far I have pulled the fabric out of the washer and it is not really twisted, so it seems to be working as stated.

carolynjo

I wash everything as I bring it in to the house. Then, no problem with shrinkage or bleeding.

justflyingin

When I made my daughter's memory quilt and used a batik as the sashing fabric, I washed it two times in the regular washing machine and the color catchers came out very dark. Then I decided at almost 2 hours per cycle, it was taking too long, so I did as some suggested here and just put it in a bucket, sink, with water and let it stand there. I did this over and over for several days until it almost didn't run at all. I warned her when she washes it to use a color catcher and that the whites might absorb the dye from the sashing. She said she's okay with it since the color of the sashing was her choice of fabric and she loves it.

So, to give you my opinion...I've never had a problem with new fabrics except for 1. colors here in Europe--then reds and darks are very, very unstable. and 2. batiks...I have a dark pink that I'd like to use and treated it the same as I did my daughter's sashing fabric.

But most of the time, no, I don't wash new fabric first.

yorkie luv

After watching the video on cutting and getting the straight grain, I now see the importance of prewashing. So I never used to prewash, but I am going to start.

janjj

I have had problems with bleeding. One - I did "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" in blue. the embroidery threat bled. I used transferease to put patterns on. How do you fix that?

Our quilt club did a sample project. I washed all the material but must have forgotten to wash the solid black. Now I am afraid to wash the small quit. It is in blacks, whites and melon colors. I am new to this so instead of passing it around to others as I did not think I should work on theirs, I did all the strips on mine myself . They said I passed with flying colors. May make it into a wall hanging as I fear it will bleed if I wash it. I will ALWAYS wash before quilting now.