bearisgray

I've had a couple of the Jinny Beyer ones from that era bleed, also. A red one and a royal blue one.

That was AFTER I had washed them and thought they were okay.

The bleeding happened while I was pressing some blocks made with them using starch or sizing.

Scissor Queen

I started off washing all my fabrics. I did a couple of block of the months where I didn't wash the fabric and I really couldn't tell much difference after they were finished.

The batting you choose has a whole lot more to do with the look of the finished quilt than washing or not washing the fabric.

I haven't found many fabrics that actually bleed. Most of what people think of as bleeding fabric is just the excess dye washing out. Toss in a color catcher in the first wash and you shouldn't have a problem.

sewingladydi

I wash all fabric pretty much as soon as I bring it in the house.

geckogirl

My DH and I rent the house that we currently live in and unfortunately we have an ooooooold septic tank. We try to limit the amount of "washing" we do . . . so I can't really wash fabric any time I buy new. So what I do is fill my bathtub up with water and a tad bit of my laundry detergent. Then I soak one color at a time to get any excess whatever off the fabrics. I just ring out the fabric and put them in the dryer all together :-)

I have heard that if you do not prewash your fabrics and you wait to wash your quilt AFTER it is complete that sometimes you will get an effect of a rather old quilt . . been a long day so my brain doesn't really want to work LOL

JanetM

I don't take any chances so I prewash everything. I would hate to spend hours making something just to have it shrink or bleed. Color catchers are also a good idea the first time you wash a quilt.

Julie in NM

I prewash everything. Wall hangings can shrink just a tad and it won't "hang" right.

Corry

I didn't use to but now I do. I don't want to take the chance of all that work and something going wrong. I also do machine embroidery on alot of my quilts and I have to prewash before embroidering.I would have a mess if I embroider and then the fabric shrinks and messes up the embroidery. So if I am going to prewash the fabrics with embroidery i have to prewash any other fabric used in the quilt. I just get it over with and then starch and iron it before getting to work on the quilt. It gives me the peace of mind that I do not have to worry about shrinkage or bleeding.

littlehud

I don't prewash and so far (knock on wood) have had no problems

Beachbound

I prewash everything with a Shout Color Catcher. The catcher usually picks up a lot of color. Right now I am loving batiks & they really need prewashed. I then iron them while wet...works for me!

Jingle

I always pre wash,totally dry, fold and put into my fabric cabinet. I iron when I get ready to use.