Skhf

I find color catches at Target

sinceresissy

I started out not washing fabric but I had a bleed and so I started washing my fabric and ironing it and it is a big pain in the butt but I don't want a bleed to ruin a quilt I have put the time into make. I also starch a lot of my fabric so it won't stretch. It depends on what I am making. So I do a lot of prep before I cut. I hate to iron and I still do the prep.

Snooze2978

Since I starch most of my fabrics when I go to use them, if they're going to bleed, they'll bleed in my starch solution as I dip them. Then since I have to pressed them, again if they're going to shrink a lot, some of that will be taken up with the pressing. I rarely wash before use though. Just my thought on the subject. I used to wash/press when I brought them home but that got tiring. Back then I'd serge across the cut edge so I knew it had been washed prior to use. I've used some of those with the unwashed fabrics with no ill effects...............so far.

Sandra-P

I am a washer before sewing person. I do wash fat quarters and even charms. The one thing I have learned the hard way to NOT wash is panels. I did and the squares on it came out wonky, even with trying to iron them straight and square. I have mixed unwashed 2 1/2 inch strips with washed fabrics and had problems wish some bunching up after the first laundering. These were placemats, so not a lot of space to work with to try to fix them. I ended up giving them to my daughter who would love them no matter what.

Jingle

I don't buy precuts. I do wash and dry all fabrics before using them.

AZ Jane

The kind of answers I love!!

MargeD

I prewash 90-99 per cent of my fabrics before using them in a quilt. I like to remove the fabric from the dryer while it is still somewhat damp, which makes ironing easier. That said, in a pinch, I have washed 1-2 yd. pieces in the sink, mostly to make sure they do not bleed, particularly if I don't have a lot of fabric to use the washing machine. While this makes for some extra work, I have been surprised some times by some dark fabric which doesn't bleed, as well as somewhat lighter fabric needing to be rinsed out 4-5 times. I think the debate of wash or not to wash will be going on forever, just do what you are comfortable with. You can mix washed and unwashed fabrics in a quilt, particularly if you are using pre-cut fabrics, which I do not typically prewash.

crafty pat

I wash everything as it comes into the house. I have a small mesh bag for my pre cuts and it works for me and is ready to go when I am ready to use it.

sharin'Sharon

In high school Home Ec classes, we learned to prewash fabrics before cutting for garment making (who wants to make something that doesn't fit after that first wash?). When I started quilting, I continued to prewash the fabrics (no precuts then) and haven't changed my mind after 30+ years. I measure fabrics before and after laundering and find that even a complete line of coordinating fabric shrinks differently, Other than the (only) batik quilt I made last year (a note was attached with fabric NOT to prewash so gave friend a box of color catchers), I have continued to prewash everything before cutting for a quilt (haven't made wall hangings), admitting I don't use jelly rolls so no experience there; I've washed charms on delicate cycle. That Home Ec teacher also stressed 'sew-press-sew-press' and it definitely makes the difference on a finished product, whether it be a garment or a quilt. NOTE: I still have guilt feelings about not prewashing those batiks!!! To each his own, but prewashing is my comfort level so I've not mixed washed and not-washed fabrics in a quilt.

Carol34446

Look for the color catchers in the laundry detergent and freezer paper where foil and wax paper etc are, and DO NOT depend on the help. I was in local wal mart and asked paint for exacto blades and they had NO CLUE, and yet they were in the craft department. Young people and some older seem clueless about many things today.