penski

i always pre wash my fabric before starting a quilt (just my desire) and when i am done quilting the quilt and binding is on i put mine in the washer on regular cycle ,warm water and a small amount of detergent , wash it dry it in the dryer. if it is a nice day out i will take it out of the dryer early and lay it outside to finish drying. but i like to make sure it is clean and washer proof before i give it or sell it to someone

BrendaB

I have a rule - I have to be able to wash everything. I prewash, and then again before giving it to someone. That way, there shouldn't be any major surprises when the recipient washes it. :-)

mcw1947

the few quilts I have made I prewash the fabric \before cutting & then press: when totally done , I wash on gentle w/ regular liquid detergent........then the dryer until just damp..lay flat.
Mine are just cuddle "I luv U " presents & I figure those that receive them will wash & dry them..No complaints & they are as they are.....loved !

Pat G

Since I am still fairly new to this grp. I may have missed earlier discussions on washing a finished quilt. Besides getting out markings, I don't understand why so many of you wash a finished quilt. Can you explain it to me since it never occurred to me.
Pat

penski

Pat-- i wash mine because i not only get the markings off but while i work on the quilt i drag it here and drag it there to do some kind of work on it and also i want to make sure that it will hold up in the wash and that i didnt make a mistake somewhere on it that it might not , because when i give it to someone i dont want it to fall apart somewhere that i missed or sewed something wrong i would rather have that happen to me before i give it to them (knock on wood ) that hasnt happened to me yet !!

QuiltingQueen

I work at a my LQS. We don't have time to wash fabric for our samples so I have never prewashed my fabric... too much of a hurry to get quilting! I will check red fabric (I snip off a piece and soak it in a white bowl of water)if it is going to be next to a white in the quilt.

I rarely wash a quilt before giving it away but my friend always washes the finished quilt becuase one time the person she gave it too was afraid she ruined it after washing it cause it got all puffy.

I do recomend to quilters that if they buy fabric at Wal-Mart or Joanns to prewash. It has a different smell to it and we can always tell Quilt Store fabric from the other... and I don't trust it not to srink. That is just my personal opinion and yes I do buy fabric from Wal-mart and Joann's...I can't resist fabric from anywhere!

I don't prewash fannel because it loses is sizing and then it's difficult to work with. I would prewash it if is going just on the back of a quilt because it will srink more then regular cotton.

grammypatty7

I normally wash a quilt before I give it to the recipient and I wash it in Tide in my washing machine and tumble dry in my dryer. A queen takes 2 or 3 times. It's necessary to take it out, shake it out and reposition it in the dryer. Everyone since the very first two that were hand pieced and hand quilted are still in use today and looking pretty good as several are over 20 years old now. If a stain gets on them I spot treat with oxy clean and then wash as usual. I do NOT pre-wash my fabrics before quilting. I like mine to shrink a bit after quilting as it adds a puff and dimension to the quilt. This is one of those personal preference issues. I'm not fond of the perfectly flat quilts and my family and I all prefer the dimension added when a quilt puffs a bit - they look and are comfy cuddlers.

ranger

Prism wrote:

I don't prewash fabric (except for flannel, which I prewash and dry twice before using).


I just used flannel backing...first time using flannel. I didn't wash it before quilting. Am I in trouble?

Pat G

Thank you all so much for telling me why you wash or don't wash your finished quilts. You opened my eyes on sev. points. In the past it never occurred to me to wash a new quilt. It also never occurred to me to wash a finished one. I guess I would have been a little afraid to.
I enjoy your msgs. so much & I've learned from all of you.
Thank all of you.
Pat

grammypatty7

When I was working, it would take me 2 - 4 years to complete a queen sized quilt. Since I'm a hand quilter who works without a hoop or frame, that's a lot of dragging around of the quilt during that time frame so there are 2 reasons why I wash a completed quilt before passing it on.
1. incase there is any color running, I can deal with it then and there and remove the color from where it shouldn't be and then the colors will be set for the recipient
2. it's fresh and clean and ready for them to use and enjoy.

I honestly feel that my quilts are more beautiful after washing them than before. I have no clue why I feel that way but I do. Recently we were told that if we are going to enter a quilt into our up coming quilt show, we are NOT to launder them first and two of us always launder our quilts as that's THE final stage of the quilting process for us. We've been told that if our quilts are good enough to place, laundering them could cost us that chance. I'm not entering my quilt. It will NOT live it's life in an unlaundered state and that's all there is to it. LOL.