why you do not wash fabrics before cutting?
01-22-2015, 04:46 AM
#32
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Twin Falls, ID
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I usually don't prewash for quilts. When I do prewash for quilts it is because of suspected bleeders, or sometimes I am just in the mood to prewash it and do the ironing. However, I always prewash for things that I want to lay flat - like table runners and wall hangings. I don't want those to get all pucker.
01-22-2015, 04:51 AM
#33
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
Posts: 2,616
I don't pre-wash pre-cuts. I'm too lazy to do the delicate work of trying to wash those babies without them fraying or distorting, so I just use them unwashed and cross my fingers when I toss it into the wash for the first time (with a wad of color catchers). So far I've been lucky, even when using batiks.
I also don't pre-wash things like canvas or random remnants I pick up for making tote bags - I consider those to be "utility" items so I don't really care if things run or shrink a bit as long as I can still drag my groceries around in it. I've also started a denim & fleece scrap quilt and I haven't been pre-washing either the denim or the fleece. It just didn't seem necessary. (Though a lot of the denim is from salvaged jeans, so very well pre-washed in that case, but some of it is new remnants which I have not been washing.)
I don't pre-wash wide backing fabric before stashing, either. I do pre-wash it just before I use it though, and I'm glad I do as I've had some pieces shrink quite a bit. (I wait to wash just before it'll be used so I don't have to FOLD the giant things!)
I wash most everything else, though, despite what a chore it is.
I also don't pre-wash things like canvas or random remnants I pick up for making tote bags - I consider those to be "utility" items so I don't really care if things run or shrink a bit as long as I can still drag my groceries around in it. I've also started a denim & fleece scrap quilt and I haven't been pre-washing either the denim or the fleece. It just didn't seem necessary. (Though a lot of the denim is from salvaged jeans, so very well pre-washed in that case, but some of it is new remnants which I have not been washing.)
I don't pre-wash wide backing fabric before stashing, either. I do pre-wash it just before I use it though, and I'm glad I do as I've had some pieces shrink quite a bit. (I wait to wash just before it'll be used so I don't have to FOLD the giant things!)
I wash most everything else, though, despite what a chore it is.
I would give my eye teeth to be outside hanging up fabric out on the line right now. Edie
01-22-2015, 05:08 AM
#34
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 212
As a garment maker, I always hated washing and ironing my fabrics before diving into my projects. My momentum would stall, so to speak. But if I wanted that outfit to fit, pre-washing was necessary.
Now that I quilt, I have learned not to prewash because the sizing in the fabric helps with accuracy of cutting and piecing. And then I got to thinking about the Prewash/non-prewash debate. Consider the clothes that we buy at the store. That fabric is not prewashed prior to garment construction. The first thing that we do when we get new clothes home is put them in the wash. When we buy clothes, we usually look at the fiber content to see if the clothes will shrink during the first wash and select the size according to that. Maybe that's how we need to approach quilting. We know the fabric will shrink, but do we allow for that by adding an extra row or border?
Now that I quilt, I have learned not to prewash because the sizing in the fabric helps with accuracy of cutting and piecing. And then I got to thinking about the Prewash/non-prewash debate. Consider the clothes that we buy at the store. That fabric is not prewashed prior to garment construction. The first thing that we do when we get new clothes home is put them in the wash. When we buy clothes, we usually look at the fiber content to see if the clothes will shrink during the first wash and select the size according to that. Maybe that's how we need to approach quilting. We know the fabric will shrink, but do we allow for that by adding an extra row or border?
01-22-2015, 05:37 AM
#35
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Florida
Posts: 5,973
I'm lazy too! In the beginning I used precuts which you can't wash, then I switched to batiks. I love the flatness of an unwashed fabric. I think it's easier to sew. It's not fun to iron and starch yardage. Although, I know some love it. Once I discovered the color catcher sheets, that was it. I have had only one fabric in about 5 years fade into another. It was a cheap solid red next to a white and faded when I used the steam iron. I tossed it all.
01-22-2015, 05:44 AM
#36
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Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mableton, GA
Posts: 11,355
I don't prewash either and have never had any problems. If I think I have a bleeder I test some of it. I like the way the fabric off the bolt behaves. I am not a starcher/best press user although I have all of it. I also wash the completed quilt in the regular laundry, no special handling, after it is done and throw it in a dryer as the recipient would. I know they wouldn't do any special care, so I don't. I also don't have any chemical sensitivities. I'm trying to remember if any of my quilts have really shrunk up to be noticeable. I can't remember any that have although I haven't measured them. I use warm and natural batting and I do like the crinkly look after washing.
01-22-2015, 06:32 AM
#38
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Nawth o' Boston
Posts: 1,879
I don't think that it makes a whit of sense to wash the sizing out of cotton fabric, deal with unknotting and cutting the unraveling edges after it comes out of the drier, get a pile of wrinkled stringy-edged fabric, and then spend a lot of time spraying some kind of starch concoction on it until it is just as stiff and regular as it was before...I did it on my first couple quilts because I was told it was the correct thing, then I wised up.
Why not wash it after the quilt is completed?
01-22-2015, 06:32 AM
#39
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 8,814
The answer is simple: laziness. I know I should, but when tempted to cut and sew, I often just don't want to be bothered with washing, drying, starching and ironing. All that time could have been spent on sewing.
01-22-2015, 06:34 AM
#40
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: St. Louis suburbs
Posts: 6,084
I don't wash anymore. I take a small piece of the fabric and wet it down, lay it on a white paper towel and if it bleeds, then I wash the excess color out of it. I don't do this with white or beige fabrics however. I used to wash and iron everything but not anymore, way too much fabric in my stash to do this each time.
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