For me this is a no brain-er. If you are making clothing of any type, especially using cotton prints…pre-wash! Save yourself the headache of putting hours into something only to have it not fit after the first wash. Now of course if you are using dry-clean only fabrics you would not. Now the flip side argument I used to get with this advise is that if you are using a poly or synthetic fabric it is not going to shrink so why should I waste my time washing and ironing…although this is true to a point, there are a lot of poly and synthetic fabrics that will have colors run; some poly/cottons do have some shrinkage, and I personally prefer to find out what little washing surprise this fabric that I am going to put hours into making that special something may have in store for me. If the color bleeds it is probably a fabric I will decide to donate and not use for myself. Another pro of pre-washing and a little unknown fact is 90% of the fabrics out there come with a finish on them. This finish is chemicals that I personally do not want to have my hands touching for hours. I look at it as washing the chemicals off of my veggies…you really want to do the same for your fabric. Especially if you are like me and spend a lot of time handling it. In the end make sure you are dealing with a washable fabric.
Fabric Washing for Quilting
This is probably where I got my most heated debates. Sort of like being Republican or Democrat. I am a true and true pre-washer. My argument for this are like the arguments above. Chemicals being my first point, get that finish off of your fabrics. My second biggest point is the time you put into a quilt. I can make a dress in two hours but it can take me sometimes up to 7 days to get a quilt top I am happy with finished. Why put in all of this time to have your quilt seams rip open because you have say; a Moda fabric mixed with a Timeless Treasures fabric and both have different shrinkage rates? I can not tell you how many customers came through my door with ripped open seams in their blocks after they had had it quilted used it and washed it. My first question always was did you pre-wash your fabrics? I could almost guarantee a no.
I really recommend a pre-wash. Especially if you are doing a quilt top using different fabrics from different manufactures. Although quilt fabrics are top of the line, they do shrink on average 1/8 of an inch per 1/2 yard.
My last argument on this will be one of my favorite customers. She was not a pre-washer, as I like to say she was from the other side. She loved to put it together, get it quilted, bind it, then wash it to get that old fashioned look as she called it. She spent hours doing applique on this really fun Red Hat quilt. She had it quilted and it turned out absolutely beautiful. The backing was a gorgeous batik, mainly red with beautiful purple explosions. A Batik that seemed made just for a Red Hat Quilt. I will never forget the day she walked into our store in absolute tears as she opened up the Quilt to reveal her white background had turned pink. We fixed it- kinda(I will go over that in another post) but it took additional hours and more expense of another product. Just think if she would have pre-washed and got all of the bleeding out of the quilt. Now there is a product that can be used to catch the dye but in my opinion it is just not worth the risk!
Would love to hear your opinion on this subject!
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