Madan49

Once a quilt leaves my possession, I no longer have control over how it's washed. So... I figure if the fabric was washed in the hottest water possible BEFORE it was used to construct the quilt, then there is not much the new owner can do to it in the laundry room once they receive it that will change how the finished quilt looks. As far as water temperature goes, that is. If they take care of it and wash it on a warm water gentle cycle, that's good, but if they don't, at least I can hope it won't shrink. LOL!

EmiliasNana

I do the same. Just want to make sure..............

Bubbie

If you don't pre-wash, you can get some not so nice surprises after you have finished all of your hard work. Also if you like that "NEW" look and your able to gift your quilt without washing it, then the person who you gifted your lovely work too with be the one who ends up with the ugly surprises. We can include washing directions, but sometimes people don't think and do laundry on auto pilot. So they was in hot water or dry on high heat.
Because most of us use different fabric lines, they will ALL shrink differently. In my house I wash it ALL, fabric batting. I want ALL shrinking and bleeding done before I gift something to someone. I think we have all been gifted with something that we fell in love with, only to become very sad and disheartened when we washed it. Because it fell apart or some other unsightly thing happened in the washer.

Jingle

I don't wash anything in hot water. I use cold water and dry on automatic temp, what ever that is.

coopah

I used to prewash. Now I just put the fabric in on the 'rinse & spin' cycle. There's no 'hot' rinse. I do that to get out any dust or 'things' that might start an asthma flare up. Also, the sizing is removed so I get to see and feel the fabric as it will be after washing.
I do soak batiks for 12 hours and then wash in 'hot' with a color catcher. The last 3 batiks have taken many, many color catchers and way too much water for my liking. The one batik was a gorgeously bright turquoise and now has faded to greens/grays. So no more batiks...although I like them, the bleeding situation with them is crazy.
I do all these things to make sure some of the chemicals from manufacturing are gone and to know that the fabric will be beautiful after washing. Because all quilts get washed now and then.

rjwilder

I wash all my fabric before it even comes into my home. Most of our fabric is made in foreign countries and sent here. Think about how dirty some countries and factories are. Then there is the chemical issue with fabrics and allergies. I have a friend who works in a well known retail store. She has told me numerous stories about unpacking boxes of clothing that was shipped to them and finding live bugs in with the clothing as well as fecal waste, fleas, moth larvae and worms. My friend bought fabric from JA's and took it into her home, 2 days later she had flea bites, her house had to bombed to get rid of the infestation. I also wash my fabric to shrink it, and to see if it bleeds and will withstand hot water. I make charity quilts for a childrens hospital and there is a lot of vomit and diaper accidents and the quilts are washed in hot water to sanitize them when that happens. I want to make sure they will withstand the rigors of hot water and dryers.

Genden

I wash quilt fabric for three reasons: (1) to prevent bleeding in the finished quilt (2) to remove chemicals (3) to shrink the fabric before I make the quilt. These are the reasons many of you have given, but I must explain #3. After I wash my fabric, I line dry rather than putting it in the dryer because I hate ironing out the wrinkles. My premise is that the hot water will shrink the fabric like the heat of the dryer would. I prefer a quilt that doesn't shrink much, is free of chemicals, and doesn't bleed. We all have our preferences for different reasons and it is okay.

tessagin

Same here!!

ladydukes

Sewnoma, I tell everyone - if you have an older machine, start getting all the parts that fit it that you can muster up to keep it running!! They don't make those type of machines any more! I have a set of the newer machines and they do not wash as good as the old ones. I paid over $2k for the set. The newer machines are set to only allow a certain amount of water into the machine. There are not water level adjustments. The setting for "heavy duty" washing is 135 minutes! And, even at a 'hot' setting, the water is not that hot.

Caroline94535

I do not like the sizing that adds false stiffness and body to fabric, and can sometimes disguise a lot of quality issues. I do not like the scent of all the chemicals they treat fabrics with.

I want my fabrics to be shrunken as much as possible and off-grain issues fixed before I cut. I want to know if the color is going to run or fade out quickly before I go to the trouble of cutting and sewing the quilt top.

Also, I do not like the idea of taking a piece of fabric that has been woven, printed, dyed, folded, shipped, warehoused, shipped again, unpacked, displayed and handled by 100 people before I get it home.

I don't stock pile fabric, but all the fabric I do purchase go from the shop, to the car, to the laundry room, to the hot water wash, and to the hot dryer. Sometimes it get to hang outside for a while, too. Then they are folded or rolled and taken to the sewing room .