World Wide Quilting Page

Question of the Week

Question for the week of February 3, 2003:

Our question this week comes Barbara From CA:

How do you pre-wash? Hot, Warmm orcold water? How long? Pre Soak? Soap or not? Do you always pre wash? What about drying? Is one method better that the next?

Marion :
For information on detergents, soaps, prewashing or not, testing fabrics for light, color and wash fastness and all sorts of other things, read "From Fiber to Fabric" by Harriet Hargrave.

Diane Muchow :
I'm making a red, white, blue quilt for a fundraiser, so I have prewashed everything. Warm water, regular detergent, extra rinse. put vinegar in extra rinse for red fabric I washed separately. It's a good thing I prewashed this time--some of the cheater panels ended up with light streaks in some of the navy blue areas. No idea what it is. I dry everything in the dryer if I expect the quilts to be washed a lot--if there's any shrinking, let's get it done now! Sometimes I take the fabric out while still damp and iron on wrong side with spray starch. I iron and starch all my fabrics--makes it easier to cut and piece with them.

Millie P. :
I always prewash my fabric in warm water with a little soap. After washing and rinsing I dry it in a medium heated dryer. This way, if the fabric is going to shrink it's better to shrink it now then afterwards! Also it's better to have the sizing in the fabric removed by washing.

Bobbi :
I prewash all cotton fabrics in cold water with reg. detergent and about a cup+ of vinegar. Sorted by light, med. & dark: anything that might overly bleed (e.g. batik) I put in with the darks. I NEVER put cotton in the dryer. I hang the pieces over the railing on my stairway or shower curtain rods (my poor family....) and either let them dry out, then steam press, or if I can get to them when they're still damp, I press then. I also fold the fabric different ways, depending on if the piece is a Fat Quarter, .5 yd, or yardage. That way, I can tell fairly quickly if a piece is big enough when I get ready to make an item. Hope this helps!

Mary :
I always pre-wash in warm water with detergent... just like regular clothes. Then I throw the fabric in the dryer, fold it and put away until ready to use. I iron it just before using to get any wrinkles out.

Donna :
I pre-wash all fabrics as they would be treated in the finished item. Dark colours ;reds and blues are washed in cold with vinegar and machine dried. Snipping corners prevents excessive fraying. Large amounts of fabric intended for backing are cut into 3 metre lengths and saftey-pinned together to prevent tangling.So.. two 3 metre lengths would wash as one. Once washed it is pressed in half selvage to selvage and then rolled up at about a 9" width. Then fold the selvage edge to the fold. This makes a nice bundle for storing with the a fold facing out and unrolls nicely for rotary cutting leaving the unused portion neat and tidy. You may have to press, but ever so slightly just the amount tyou unroll to cut.

Bill :
Depends on what you're quilting and how much fabric you've got. For a lap or bed quilt I machine-wash with quilter's detergent in warm water. For a small wall hanging or placemat you can get away with soaking briefly in the sink. To dry, either gently squeeze out excess water and air-dry or use the perma-press cycle in the dryer; either way, press with a dry iron while still slightly damp and you're good to go.

Elaine :
I used to wash everything I bought. It was a lot of work, and pretty soon I had a laundry basket full of cloth to wash, dry, iron and fold. Enough of that.
Now I steam press it before I cut it to take out the wrinkles/folds and pre-shrink it a little. If it is a dark fabric, and if it bled it would ruin the quilt, I cut a 2 inch square, run it under hot water, and pat dry with a white paper towel. If the paper towel turns color, I know I need to pre-wash. I also pre-wash flannel so that it shrinks ( it shrinks a lot more than standard quilting fabrics).
When I pre-wash, I use warm water, and Cheer-Free soap (it has no whiteners, bleaches, brighteners, or perfume). Dark blue fabrics often end up in my "jeans" load. I wash it on a normal cycle. I usually try to check the color of the water before the end of the wash cycle. If there is a lot of dye in the water, I might wash again with synthropol added to the water. It helps keep the dye suspended in the water. I dry it in the dryer, iron and starch. I like the feel of starched fabric when I rotary cut and machine piece. I feel it makes my cutting and stitching more accurate.

Nancy :
I always rinse the fabric in cold water and then throw it in the dryer to shrink it. Never use fabric softener. If the fabric is dark, check and see if it is going to bleed. If so you can soak in salt water to set the dye. Take bleeding into consideration in using with light colored fabrics in the same quilt, also whether or not the finished product will need to be washed or not.

valleyquilter321@hotmail.com :
Barbara: I always prewash my 100%
cotton in warm water ( soap optional)
and tumble in a warm dryer. That way
you eliminate the sizing and don't
have to worry about future shrinking
after your project is complete.

Louise :
I prewash the fabric however the finished quilt will be washed. Usually that means with warm wash, cold rinse, and into the dryer.

Maggie :
I just saw on "Simply Quilts", HGTV,
Alex Anderson said if you don't prewash,
steam iron the fabric with a piece of
white fabric over it. If it's gonna
bleed you'll see some on the white patch. Sounds a lot easier than washing, de-tangling, de-fringing, ironing.

taffy :
I treat the fabric the way it will be treated when finished.
I sometimes combine colors and then use a color catcher sheet to make sure the fabrics colors don't run on one another.
Right now I'm using up my stash ( it will take years) and making lots of scrappy quilts so I have lots of contrasting fabrics together. Very glad I wash fabric when it comes home.
Cut a small corner off each end before you wash - then you won't have as much tangleing and you can easily tell if fabric in your stash has been washed.

Patricia Reader :
To me I always prewash acording to the type of material. I also stretch some of my fabrics before putting my project geather

As far as dying material I really don't really do to much. But was learn to go acording to the type of fabraic.

bzyhands :
I like to pre-wash my fabrics before cutting/ piecing, in the same manner that they will be washed in the finished quilt...bed-quilt fabrics are washed in the washing machine (warm wash, cold rinse)and tumbled in the dryer on medium heat (although I don't put my hand-quilted bedding in the clothesdrier, but line-dry it outdoors, instead :-) I iron my fabric before cutting for accuracy. Sparkly or metallic fabric destined for wall-hangings only, however, I don't wash at all (do you expect to ever wash your wall-hanging?)

Su DeMan :
i prewash cold, with a bit of soap, no bleach or oxy-clean. i thry to hang try, it is eaiser to then iron, and not so many tattered threads on the edges.

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